We Don't Belong Here: Captain America 2
by TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters
Summary: Ivy knew her secrets would come out eventually. However, she had been hoping it wouldn't happen so soon. Add to that memory loss and getting chased by HYDRA/S.H.I.E.L.D. and she could really use a little bit less going on.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing I was aware of was pain. I felt like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat. Or stabbed me. Or, more likely, both. My clothes were damp and sticking to me. I groaned and opened my eyes.

A tall building stood on either side of me. Several trash cans blocked my view of the street. Where _was_ I? The last thing I remembered was walking home from school, alone. So how had I gotten here?

My first guess was that my ability to travel between fictional worlds – which apparently exist in alternate dimensions – and my unwillingness to share information had probably caught up with me. Yeah, that was probably it. Luck doesn't hold out forever.

Right now, though, I had the bigger problem that I was covered in what smelled like blood and that I could barely move. I started to crawl, pulling myself forward with my arms.

It hurt so much that stopping became necessary six or seven times, but eventually, I made it out of the alley and lay on the sidewalk, in front of an apartment building. The street was empty.

I pulled myself through the door and inside. If anyone was looking for me, the trail of blood left on the cement and the floor would make it easy, but it wasn't exactly as if I could clean it up.

I dragged myself to a corner of the big room. Someone had to come past at some point, and I hurt too much to go any further.

Footsteps sounded nearby.

I groaned.

The footsteps sounded more quickly, coming toward me. A hand rolled onto my back. "What happened?" asked a female voice. A woman with blond hair leaned over me, starting to inspect my injuries. Agent Sharon Carter.

More footsteps sounded nearby.

"_Ivy_?" said a familiar voice. Cap leaned over me. "What happened?"

"It looks like she was stabbed several times. Among other things," said Agent Carter. "Keep your eyes open," she ordered me. "Can you describe what happened?"

I shook my head. "I don't… remember." My head ached and I almost wanted to pass out.

The door banged open.

Cap and Agent Carter were pushed aside.

S.H.I.E.L.D. people were everywhere. I was moved onto a stretcher and into the back of some kind of ambulance. Someone told me to stay awake, I was hooked up to things. I passed out just as the vehicle was starting to move.

I woke up gradually, to the sound of people talking.

I groaned and opened my eyes.

"Hey, Ivy," said Agent Romanoff, who was seated next to me.

"Hey."

"Can you tell us what happened?" asked Cap, who sat next to her.

"I don't remember." I recounted everything that had happened since I'd woken up in that alley.

"You were stabbed multiple times, struck multiple times with a heavy object, and had your leg and a few fingers broken," said Agent Romanoff. "Among other things."

"Among what other things?"

"Bruises, gashes, things like that."

"Do you have any idea what happened?"

"You went missing after on your way home from school a few weeks, maybe a month back," said Agent Romanoff. "Yesterday, you made a call from Washington to your friend Miranda, telling her you were alive but were hiding. Then Cap found you. Your parents have been told where you are and that you're alright."

Despite my loss of memory, the events of _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ were absolutely clear in my memory. And the end of _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._ If all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets were released to the public, it would mean mine would be too. Ever detail I'd ever confessed, everything. My parents would find out. My brother. Not good. "I need to see Mom and Dad," I said.

Cap and Agent Romanoff glanced at each other.

"I don't know if we can do that," said Agent Romanoff.

"I need to see them. Please," I said. "We don't have to tell them, just use the stalker story again… but I need to talk to them. Just once."

"I'll see what we can do," promised Cap.

People came in and out of the room for the next couple days. Cap and Agent Romanoff mostly. Director Fury, once. He told me that my request was granted, as long as I didn't tell anyone anything. I think he felt sorry for me. That and he probably wanted to keep me happy, seeing as I know the future and could make things go _very_ wrong for S.H.I.E.L.D. I would never do that, but it's nice to know that people remember.

They did, however, say I had to wait until I could walk around on my own. It took two weeks to get to that point, and would have taken much longer if it wasn't for some S.H.I.E.L.D. medical stuff which sped up the healing process. Granted, the walking was painful and on crutches, but it was still walking. My body was a mess of aching bruises and wounds, so it was a wonder I could do even that.

They kept me mostly confined to my room, but permitted me to get up and walk around if accompanied by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

The first few times, it was Cap or Agent Romanoff. However, one day, some friends showed up.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading a book, when a knock sounded on the door.

"Mind if we interrupt?" asked a familiar voice.

I looked up and dropped the book, jumping to my feet, then falling back hard onto the bed.

Fitz, Simmons, and Skye came through the door.

They walked me through the corridors. We chatted about everything except for my injuries and memory problems. I told them about my plan to see my parents. The director hadn't wanted to tell my friends, though. The less people who knew, the better.

"Do you want us to pass the information on to your friends, too?" asked Fitz.

"Yes, please." I needed to see everyone one more time before my world got completely turned upside down.

Hi, this is Miranda.

There happens to be a really big _Dr. Who_ convention in the city where I live, so every year I go and enjoy it. This year, I'd finally managed to bring people along. My friend Sharon and my friend Jack. Jack was really good about it, especially since he's not really a fan of the show. He even let me and Sharon dress him up as the tenth doctor. There's not a ton of resemblance, but it was the best we could do.

We eventually, toward the end, found ourselves going through some of the merchandise. I had wanted to get a Dalek necklace as a gift for someone. "What do you think of this one?" I asked, holding one up for Jack to look at.

"It looks the same as all the other ones you've shown me."

I sighed.

"Excuse me," said a voice slightly behind me. "Miranda Pond?"

I turned to see Agent Leo Fitz standing behind me.

"Oh, hi!" I said.

"I thought I recognized you. Have you been a fan of the show long?"

I'd met Fitz in England after Malekith's attempt to take over the universe. "For a long time, yes. I've been watching it ever since the first season came out. The new one, I mean, not the classics, obviously. I'm not quite that old." Babbling. Because that, for some reason, is how I react when I'm surprised. Not scared, just surprised and unsure of what to do.

"And your boyfriend?"

Jack made a small choking sound.

"We're not together like that," I said quickly. "He's an old friend of mine."

I couldn't see how Jack would ever be interested in me. Certainly not because of my looks. My hair is curly and frizzy, and with my glasses and round face I look like an owl.

"It's good to meet you," said Jack, extending a hand. "I'm Jack."

"Fitz," he said. "Though you probably already knew that." He leaned in slightly. "If you two wanted to see Ivy, you might find her at her house visiting her parents on Saturday at ten. Not that I would know anything about that."

**Here I am at last!  
**

**Updates might be a bit slower on this one, as it's not done yet and I'm going to be away for the next few days, but I just had to upload _something_. Guardians of the Galaxy comes out in slightly over a month, after all.  
**

**Just a little warning: this story is a bit darker than the last few. Let's just say that the stuff Ivy forgot isn't very nice stuff.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Sharon here.

Me, Jack, Ariel, and Miranda all showed up at five to ten that night, on the excuse that we were all going to take Ivy's dog Bucky for a walk. The dog wouldn't let any family members near it – not even Ivy's older brother Ryan, who was his original owner – but we were okay, strangely enough.

We delayed our walk until we saw a black car pull up. Ivy, wearing a dark hoodie, stepped out of the car.

She froze for a moment on seeing us. Then her face lit up. Her arms weren't big enough to properly hug all four of us at once, especially with her on crutches, but she certainly tried. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by her German Shepard tacking her to the ground. Her hood came off, her red hair spilling out.

"Down, Bucky," she ordered, laughing.

Agent Coulson got out of the car behind her.

"Nice to see you all again," he said. "I'm not going to ask how you knew she'd be here tonight."

Jack and Miranda helped Ivy to her feet and she made it to the house.

Her mom and dad welcomed everyone in and sat Ivy down on the couch. Everyone was talking at once, trying to make themselves heard, especially the dog, who kept trying to jump up on her. She leaned down, scratching behind his ears.

"What happened to your leg?" asked her mom.

"It broke."

"How?"

"That's classified," said Agent Coulson.

Ryan sat down at the piano, turning to face us. "You have a very nasty tendency to disappear whenever I have a performance that Mom and Dad want you to attend."

"Ryan, you have so many concerts that leaving for any amount of time makes it almost impossible not to miss a few," she said. "Speaking of performances, Ariel, has anything new popped up?"

Her face lit up. "Oh, yes! There's this stage musical that some big theater group is putting together and they want me to come audition."

Ariel had recently been the subject of a few viral videos – our filmed clips from our high school's performance of _Phantom of the Opera_. When a random high school girl sings as beautifully as, if not beautifully than, experienced singers with decades of experience, people tend to notice. She doesn't better technique or skill than people like that, but she _does_ have a special quality to her voice that makes it stand out.

Bucky had finally calmed down, allowing Ivy to pet him and scratch behind his ears without trying to climb all over her.

"Mr. and Mrs. Williams, I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you privately," said Agent Coulson. "Ivy, maybe you'd like to grab a few things from your room?"

We all followed her up the stairs to her room.

Ivy didn't take much. Some clothes from her closet, her knitting, a book. She scribbled something on a piece of paper and tucked it inside the windowsill. She hesitated for a moment, then removed a pair of weird earrings from her jewelry box. They were made from shiny bits of metal, like shrapnel.

"Is everything okay at S.H.I.E.L.D.?" asked Ariel. "So nothing's started yet?"

"No, thank God. I doubt it'll stay that way long, though."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"I would if I could. No, it's not classified, not like you think." She took a deep breath. "I lost my memory of what happened after I went missing. I woke up in an alley in Washington D.C. a few weeks ago, bleeding out. I'm fine now, don't worry. Miranda, when I made that call, did I say anything about what had happened?"

Miranda shook her head, too stunned to answer for a moment. "You sounded upset, but you didn't want to say much, just that you were okay and wouldn't be home for a while."

Ivy sank down on the bed. "I… need a minute. Alone, if you all don't mind."

She came out a few minutes later, her face slightly pink. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think there might have been a tear stain on her face.

Ivy here.

The doctors said I made an astonishingly fast recovery – it only took a few weeks for me to get from having to be in a wheelchair to limping around in pain.

Ward and Skye showed up to see me one afternoon.

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw Ward.

"How are you doing?" asked Skye.

"Fine." Well, fine-ish.

"Come with us," said Agent Ward.

I got up and followed them to a gun range somewhere inside the building.

"I heard that you don't know how to use a gun," said Agent Ward. "You should know how."

He spent the day teaching me, giving me pointers and occasionally making remarks about how slowly Skye had taken to using one as compared to how fast I did. If he worked for HYDRA, though, then why would he want me to be able to defend myself? That question made me very, very nervous.

"You did pretty good for your first time," said Agent Ward while we were taking a break.

"Grant!" said a voice.

I spun around to see another HYDRA traitor who has the _gall_ to wear a S.H.I.E.L.D. patch on his sleeve. Then again, I can't understand how _any_ of them can look at themselves look in the mirror in the morning. I certainly couldn't if I were them.

"Hello, Agent Garrett," I said, barely able to restrain myself from punching him.

"Hi, good to see you again. I heard you were healing up nicely after they found you." He gave me a smile. "Any idea what happened?"

I strongly suspected HYDRA involvement somehow – but didn't have any proof.

Luckily, Ward struck up a conversation with him, so I was spared further interaction.

"Excuse me, Agent Ward, Agent Garrett –" it took a bit of effort to say it normally, as if I didn't despise them – "do you mind if I head back to my room? I'm quite tired."

I wasn't lying about that. I had been standing for hours and my legs felt like they were about to give out if I didn't sit down soon. The leg that had been broken hurt _so_ much.

"Sure, go ahead," said Ward.

I headed off back toward my room. Once out of sight, I stopped and leaned heavily against the wall. I sank down against the smooth surface. My legs ached.

"Are you okay?" asked a male voice.

I looked up to see yet another HYDRA mole – Agent Sitwell. Seriously, what was up with them swarming around me today?

"I'm fine." I started to stand up, only for my knees to buckle underneath me. Agent Sitwell grabbed my arm before my face hit the floor.

"Thanks," I said.

"Do you need any help getting back to your room?"

I shook my head and stepped forward, only to fall forward again, this time landing hard on my wrist.

Agent Sitwell helped me up again. "Are you sure?"

I guess his being a HYDRA mole didn't mean he couldn't be polite. I didn't protest as he helped me get back to my room.

Skye came to visit me again later - thankfully alone. "We're going out on a mission. We're tracking the Clairvoyant," she said. "You, of course, already know who that is?"

I nodded. "I know. Oh, and congratulations in advance. In case I don't see you again."

"What does that mean?" asked Skye, looking a little nervous.

"Stuff's about to happen." Like the Clairvoyant turning out to be Garrett. And S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanding. And Skyeward becoming official-ish. I've never shipped them together, but it's their lives, not mine. Besides, my favorite ship on that entire show is probably never going to happen – not after he dropped her out of the Bus and nearly drowned Fitz. "I wanted to congratulate you on something good that's going to happen to you really soon. Just in case I don't see you again for a while."

She relaxed visibly. "I'll see you soon."

Hopefully. I buried my face in my hands the moment she left. It was coming, and I was powerless to stop it.


	3. Chapter 3

Ivy here.

I always knew I'd have to meet with the World Security Council eventually. Word had it they really didn't like me – honestly, I don't really blame them that much.

My time came two days after Agent Ward gave me a lesson on how to use a gun.

I'd been sick all morning and was laying down when Alexander Pierce entered the room. "Miss Williams, it's a pleasure to finally meet you after hearing so much about you."

Sadly, I couldn't say the same about meeting him. Still, it never hurts to be pleasant, no matter how little you like someone. "It's good to finally meet you as well, Sir." Major exaggeration, but…

"Could you come with me please? There are some people who'd like to meet you."

Who? Probably the World Security Council or something like that. From what I'd heard, they'd wanted to have a talk with me for a long time. About two years, in fact. I suspect I owe Director Fury for its postponement. "Yes, of course."

I followed him out and through the halls, into an elevator, glad I'd chosen to wear some of my nicer clothes that day, a black skirt and a white shirt with a collar high enough to hide the scars on my throat. I don't really remember why I'd chosen to wear those that day – I'm just really glad I did.

Yes, it was the World Security Council.

Their holographic projections all leaned forward slightly, as if to get a better look at me.

I swallowed back what I wanted to say to Pierce about not telling me. He's the villain. I don't expect courtesy from the villain.

"Ivy Williams," said the woman - I can never remember the names of the council members. "This council has been wanting to speak with you for the last few years. You've refused details to us which could save lives."

"Yes, I have, Sir." I took a deep breath and went into a speech I'd spent two years refining for this day. "I can't, in good conscience, share information that, although it could save lives, could also end more if I did. Were I to share knowledge of future events, the actions taken to prevent them could cause more deaths, and then it would spiral completely out of control, rendering any knowledge I have useless and possibly end up in doing a great deal of damage to your world."

"Yet, as I understand, you _have_ shared information with others, particularly a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents under the leadership of Agent Phil Coulson."

"Yes. I have given small pieces it where I feel it is safe, to people who I trust to handle it properly." I turned to Pierce. "On that note, may I suggest you start immediately locking your door after Renata leaves?" I said in a low voice. "Or at least tell her to knock if she wants to come back in – you know, in case she leaves her phone or something. You never know who might break into the house." That should be harmless enough, and yet, one life would be saved if he followed it.

"I still can't say I feel your decision is best," said the woman.

"I have seen the effects of my choices. I have struggled with them and suffered physically and emotionally because of them. If you don't believe me, ask Agent Phil Coulson. I believe he's put in a request that I be referred to a therapist?" Without his interference, I probably would be dead right now. I realized I was rubbing my throat and lowered my hand to my side. That stupid scar was ugly and refused to start fading. Instead, my fingers started to twist the purity ring I wore on my right hand. "I've been mind controlled by an alien with family issues. I've been beaten in attempts to extract information. I've known about the near deaths of people I care about and done nothing. Do you think that was easy for me, Council?" I pulled down my collar, revealing the scar along my throat, along with a collection of bruises from my disappearance.

The room went absolutely silent at the sight of the scar. They said nothing, just watched me, waiting for what I said next.

"I've done nothing to harm anything or anyone here and I don't intend to. Everything has gone along in the way it would if I couldn't travel between universes."

None of them seemed to know what to say.

"No one has ever managed to get anything out of me, and believe me, people have tried. I can't, in good conscience, give you important information, and I most certainly will not give them to anyone else."

"You do, of course, realize that your outright refusal could very possibly have… less than pleasant consequences," said the woman.

"It already has. You want to lock me up? Try to beat it out of me? Go ahead. _Try_. Someone already has, and if they'd succeeded, I'd know about it by now."

A movement outside the window caused me to glance out. A boy with white hair in a blue hoodie hovered in midair on the other side of the glass. Ice began to spread up the window. Jack Frost had found me, finally. He'd gotten my note.

I gave him a small nod and smile and turned back to the Council. It would probably best if I didn't draw attention to him.

"You believe it's for the best to allow people to die?" asked the woman. "Innocent people who did nothing wrong? Good people, who tried to do the right thing?"

"I believe it's for the best to allow the timeline to play out the way it was originally written. If that includes people dying, then that's how it is. If I change things in large ways, even more people could get hurt or killed. Tell me, knowing that, what would any of you do?"

Absolute silence. Just what I thought.

"I believe that will be all for today," said one of the men at last, standing up.

Pierce escorted me out of the room. There was absolute silence on the way down in the elevator. Jack Frost hovered just outside the elevator's glass window the whole way down.

"Why did you tell me to lock the door after Renata leaves?"

"Oh, someone's going to break into your house. She dies because of it, but her death is completely pointless."

He frowned.

I had a feeling he knew who I was talking about. Which meant I would have to watch my back _very_ carefully.

But what had I been supposed to do? Her death meant nothing here. Why should I let her die?

Sharon here.

Turns out, Ivy wasn't the only one who had to watch her back. I have a broken hockey stick and a limp to prove that.

Ariel and I were assigned to a science project together and so we went to my house to study.

When we drew close to my house, I got a sort of prickly feeling in the back of my neck. Like someone was watching us.

"Ariel?" I said, nudging her. "I have this feeling like –"

"Someone's following us?" filled in Ariel in a soft voice. "Yeah, me too." She reached for something inside her backpack. I wondered if she had some kind of weapon in her backpack, but it was just a book. "See? _Wuthering Heights_," she said loudly. "My mom made me read it a couple years ago. I hate this book _so much_."

I blinked at the sudden subject change, but played along. "It's a classic," I protested. I actually like _Wuthering Heights_.

"About despicable people doing stupid and/or horrible things. You _cannot_ tell me Heathcliffe is romantic. Despicable is the nicest word I can use for him – whoops!" The book slipped through her fingers and fell onto the sidewalk behind her. She turned to pick it up. "Saw someone step behind the trees, don't know who," she said softly as she turned around. "It's still a lame book," she added in a louder voice, returning it to her backpack. Her face had suddenly gotten _very_ pale. "What should we do?"

"Call the police when we get home?" I suggested. My house was only a couple houses down.

"Is anyone at your house?"

"No. And there's nobody on this street at home this time of day."

"Just great," muttered Ariel. "Okay. We go to the house, lock all the doors and windows, call the police. Sound like a plan?"

An engine sounded nearby, coming toward us. A van sped down the street, dangerously close to us.

"Run?" I said.

"Yeah."


	4. Chapter 4

Sharon here.

We both broke into a run, sprinting toward my house. Ariel was much faster, reaching the door before me.

The van pulled up slightly behind me. Footsteps thudded on the pavement behind me.

I made it to the door and unlocked it, shoving it open. The guy was almost caught up with us now. I slammed the door behind us and locked it.

"Back door!" I yelled to Ariel.

I secured all the windows, then grabbed the phone and to call for help. The line was dead.

A window shattered nearby.

"It was a good idea," muttered Ariel, coming up behind me.

"Garage," I said. "It's pitch black when the light's off, and the lights are broken right now. Long story involving my cousin trying to improve them. It'll buy us some time." It wasn't a great idea, but the only one we had.

We slipped into the garage. I grabbed the flashlight that we kept by the door and tucked inside my hoodie, the locked the door behind us.

We could have opened the garage door and let ourselves out, but people would hear, and there might be some of our attackers waiting outside.

We crawled under a tarp that covered my dad's boat. "Who do you think it is?" I asked, trying my cell phone. Also dead. Because it wouldn't be fair to cut us any slack.

"HYDRA," breathed Ariel.

The door crashed open. "Come out, come out, where ever you are," sang a voice. "You can't hide forever."

Footsteps came dangerously close. The tarp lifted.

Ariel sprang up, striking out in the darkness.

My fingers closed around a hockey stick and I swung out.

There was a rink a couple blocks away from my house when I was little and I used to walk there three times a week for practice. I actually wasn't too bad, but I sort of dropped the sport after I turned twelve. Still, I've always followed hockey, like I think a lot of Canadians do, and our family's gear stayed with us even through the move to the States.

The stick snapped and a body hit the floor.

"They're here!" yelled a voice.

Footsteps pounded all around, coming toward us. My knees suddenly started to go weak.

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped Ariel. She grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. "You are _not_ going to freeze on me like that. I'm not explaining to Ivy why I escaped and you didn't." She hit the button to open the garage door.

We slid underneath as a crack of light appeared. Ariel broke into a sprint ahead of me. I followed along, panting. Hey, Ariel has done kickboxing _and_ ballet for ages. She's in better shape than I am, okay?

A gunshot sounded. Pain exploded in my knee and I fell forward.

Ariel caught me and wrapped my arm around someone's shoulders. "I am _not_ going to face Ivy and tell her I left you behind. Come on. Just a bit further."

Brakes squealed.

"_What in the world_?!" yelled a familiar voice. One of my neighbors.

"Sharon's been shot in the knee," said Ariel.

I was shoved forward into the backseat of a car, Ariel climbing in behind me. She was already talking on her cell phone.

"Sharon, we're on the way to the hospital," she said. "You're going to be fine." She pressed her hands on the injury. None of us, as far as I knew, had any real first aid training for this kind of thing.

My knee was on fire with pain. I hadn't known it was possible to be in that much pain. But at least we were alive.

Ivy here.

The director called me into his office the evening after.

"Ivy," he said. "Sit down."

I could tell from his expression that something was wrong. I sat down and waited.

"Your friends Ariel and Sharon were attacked yesterday afternoon."

I sat back. "Are they okay?"

"Your friend Ariel is fine. Shaken up, but she's fine. Your friend Sharon… she was shot through the knee. They said she'll recover fine."

I didn't know what to do. I just sat there. "Who was responsible?"

"We don't know. It was a group of people, in black uniforms, according to what they've pieced together for us. But there's not a sign of who they were. They all got away. Though I understand Sharon broke a hockey stick over one's head."

Pierce knew that I knew his plans – and that, by extension, they would. My fists clenched and unclenched. Maybe he had a hand in it? In which case, Jack and Miranda were in danger, too.

"Your friend Ariel has gone to Washington D.C. with her parents, as they had been planning. Some kind of audition. Sharon is in the hospital."

Ariel was here? Great. "I think they're in danger. Them and Miranda and Jack. I… can't tell you why. Director, would it be alright if I made a few calls?"

He nodded. "Go ahead."

I almost didn't doubt that any phone in the building would have all the calls recorded. Fortunately, Miranda had come up with a plan ages ago in case of something like this. A code of sorts. Every third word of each sentence, put together, says something. I think she said she based it off of a code she got from a _Nancy Drew_ book or something. I don't know, really not a fan of those books. In order to tell the person we're using the code, the person who starts asks how Bucky's doing. To stop, we mention the weather.

I called Miranda first.

"Hi. It's Ivy. How's Bucky?" I asked.

"Oh, he's doing fine."

I spoke slowly as I put together the sentences. "There's no danger of his getting sick again then?" I went on to carefully construct a message. "Danger. Suspect HYDRA. Lay low." I didn't doubt she'd pass the message on.

"How's Sharon?" I finally asked.

"Ariel called. She said the doctor told her Sharon will be fine."

"Be safe," I said.

"Don't worry."

I hung up and put my head against the wall. My eyes stung with tears. I felt sick and relieved at the safe time.

"I heard what happened," said Agent Romanoff.

I spun around, blinking the tears away. "She's going to be okay. And Ariel's gone. Musical audition thing here in D.C., I think."

"We'll find who it was. We have an agent keeping an eye on all of them. They'll all be fine."

"Would it be possible know their names?" The chances of one being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent I knew to be from HYDRA was small. But still.

"Yeah, of course. Let's see…" she said, and listed off a bunch of names I didn't recognize.

Oh, well, it had been worth a shot. I made notes of the names and decided to check later whether they'd had any association with Agents Garrett, Ward, or Sitwell.

"Who's this?" asked a voice behind us.

I turned to see Crossbones, or Brock Rumlow. Whichever. I couldn't help but notice an injury on the side of his head that shouldn't have been there. Like he'd been struck with a hockey stick.

It took every bit of restraint I had to not attack him in that moment and not look like I wanted to. "Hello," I said. If he had been the one who shot Sharon, he would pay for it in time.

"We would have come sooner," said Agent Romanoff. "But we were on a mission."

A sick feeling formed in my stomach. "Aboard the… Lumerian Star?"

"What do you know about it?" asked Rumlow.

He probably didn't know about me, so I shouldn't tell him. "I came from an alternate universe where your world exists in comic books, and it's from a movie based on the comic books." I paused, allowing my words to sink in, then gave him a smile. "Someone told me." Technically, that was true. Rumlow himself had explained in the quinjet or whatever it was.

Well, great. Now we were inside _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_. I stifled a small scream and excused myself.


	5. Chapter 5

Ivy here.

I had it in my hands to expose the HYDRA traitors and stop everything. Wouldn't that be best?

It wouldn't be, though, in the end.

I sunk down on my bed. I refused to shed a tear for Ward or the other traitors. They weren't worth it. It wasn't my place to decide anything here.

Ariel would probably be pulled into everything in Washington tomorrow. That's how it works – the energy that moves me between universes pulls the important events toward the people who have it on them. I don't quite understand everything, that's just the basic explanation.

That didn't promise to end well. None of this did.

Ariel here.

There's a lot of stuff to do in Washington, DC. So after we got that and checked in, my family went sight seeing. One of those sights being a car chase.

We were heading down the street when we heard gunfire.

Here's how to tell whether or not your sense of self preservation sucks. If you hear gunfire, do you run towards it or away from it?

Guess what I did. Yeah, I don't have much of a sense of self preservation.

I was immediately was glad that I had chosen to wear running shoes rather than my usual high heels. High heels are _so_ frustrating to run around in, even when you're used to them.

I caught sight of the vehicle almost immediately – Director Fury's vehicle and two police cars.

Why was I running after them? Curiosity? Idiocy? Probably the last one, mostly.

A dark figure stepped out into the street.

I stopped in my tracks. The Winter Soldier. Oh, my goodness.

He fired his gun at the black vehicle. The car flipped over, skidding forward. He walked forward toward the car, ripping the door off. He stared inside for a moment.

And then he turned his gaze directly on me. That guy is seriously creepy with the mask on. And off, too, I guess.

I stood frozen for a second, eyes locked on him. My heart thudded against my ribs.

Turning and running was probably not one of my better ideas ever. It left my back open as a target.

I realized this and dropped down behind a car a split second before the gunshot fired. I scurried from hiding place to hiding place, keeping my head down. More gunshots followed. I've gotten way too used to being chased.

I dropped down behind another parked car, breathing as silently as possible, and decided idiocy was definitely the reason I had run toward the gunshots.

You'd think he'd be more concerned with where Director Fury went than with some random girl who saw him. I mean, come on. He walked out in broad daylight, with a ton of people watching, and he goes after me? Do I have great luck or what?

Or what.

Miranda here.

The moment I passed the message onto Jack, we put a plan we'd assembled ages ago into action. Neither of us wanted to end up shot like Sharon or worse.

What was our plan? Hide. Drive to a prearranged location and wait everything out.

I was in the middle of packing a small suitcase when the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hello," said a familiar female voice. "I'm back."

"Oh, Carmen!" I said. "How was your trip?" I pulled a shirt off a hanger and started to fold it.

She excitedly recounted her fun visiting her cousins in Germany and revisiting places where she'd grown up there, then suddenly paused.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, just… there's a man standing by the baggage claim who's been staring at me."

I stifled a groan. This week really could not get much more frustrating. "What does he look like?"

She described someone who had a rather disturbing resemblance to Rumlow. Coincidence? I think not. I don't believe in coincidence.

There was a thud and some muttered words in German.

"Are you okay?"

"Tripped and dropped something."

"If the guy approaches you, pretend you're coming from Germany. I mean, pretend you are German."

"I _am_ German."

"Just don't tip him off that you're living in the States. Don't tell him who you are."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Um… okay. Oh, thank you." Her German accent suddenly came out surprisingly strong.

"No problem," said a male voice on the other end. Definitely Crossbones.

"You were coming from Germany?"

Silence. She must have nodded. "I have family here." The accent was coming out even stronger, and her English suddenly changed from perfect to horrible.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, she had chosen to regard my advice.

She said something German into the phone. I didn't understand a word she said, but she later told me she said "I'm sorry, hold on a minute, I need to get my things."

There were a few more pleasantries in some very broken English, then she walked away.

She said something in German.

"What?"

"I said, you owe me an explanation."

"That I do, and you'll get one as soon as I can give you one." I closed my suitcase and sent up a prayer that he would be fooled long enough for them to leave the airport.

I headed downstairs, where Jack sat at the table. "Ready to go?" he asked, standing up.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

"Do have any better ideas?"

He reached across and squeezed my hand. "No. Let's go."

The phone rang.

"Let it go to the answering machine," said Jack.

I nodded and reached for the door handle.

"Miranda?" said a voice. "Sharon's gone from the hospital. Someone just came to her room and she's gone."

I turned to Jack. "Let's get out of here. Now."


	6. Chapter 6

Ariel here.

People have told me sometimes that I have quite a bit of nerve. My escape plan exemplified this like you wouldn't believe.

I darted out from behind the car and straight toward the Winter Soldier. I slapped him across the face. "What do you think you're doing?" I demanded. "Do you _want_ this mission to fail?"

Yeah. I can't believe I thought that was a good idea either.

He stared at me in confusion for a moment. In that moment, I drove a knee where it hurts a guy most and ran. I still can't believe that it actually worked.

I ran directly out into traffic, ducking and dodging between cars. My heart pounded against my ribs and I was practically hyperventilating in terror. Horns honked. Brakes screeched. By some miracle, no cars hit me. This is one thing I do that you should _not_ try at home. Well, one of the many, _many_ things.

I ran into an alley, but didn't hear any more footsteps behind me. I kept running, though, glancing over my shoulder every few seconds, until I had gotten myself well and truly lost.

That plan _so_ should not have worked.

Ivy here.

Agent Romanoff was training me when the news came in about everything. By training, I mean she was pummeling me, and I was pathetically attempting to block and parry and dodge. I'm good, but not that good.

"Miss Williams? Agent Romanoff?"

She paused mid punch.

It was Jasper Sitwell.

"I have news for Miss Williams."

I knew it was trouble from his expression.

"You may want to sit down," he said.

I did so. My leg burned like it hadn't for a while.

"Well, first off, a friend of yours, Ariel Dalton, visiting here in D.C., was attacked by a mysterious assassin who was attempted to kill Director Fury. We don't know what happened to either the director or the assassin, but your friend is fine."

Okay. Could have been worse.

"Your friends Jack Lewis and Miranda Pond have disappeared. They left their house at one this afternoon and were last seen driving his car away from the house."

Well, at least it wasn't HYDRA. Was it? Had they gotten to them since? Was Sitwell lying? "Did Jack and Miranda leave a note or anything?" I asked. "They would have left a note."

He nodded and opened a folder. "It said 'Dear Ivy, don't worry about Bucky, I've asked Edward to take care of him. Bucky was hiding in his doghouse when I last saw him. He'll be safe enough, Edward likes you too much to let anything happen to him. Miranda'. Does it mean anything to you?"

Hiding. Safe. Thank God. "Uh… what it says, I guess. I asked Miranda to take care of Bucky if anything ever happened to me. He doesn't really like the rest of the family."

"And your friend Sharon has disappeared from the hospital. A nurse came to check on her and found her gone. There were signs of a struggle."

That did it.

I buried my face in my hands, hiding any emotion I might have shown. A tiny sob escaped my mouth.

Agent Romanoff was talking to Sitwell, but the words were indistinguishable. Someone else addressed to me, asking me questions, but I couldn't understand them.

An arm wrapped around me, pulling me to my feet.

"I think she needs some time off base," said Cap's voice.

"That could take several days to arrange –" began Sitwell.

"I think she needs it _tonight_."

The idea sounded _extremely_ attractive. This place was full of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, any of whom could be secretly from HYDRA and planning to kill me or worse. It really starts to get to you after a while. A little time to clear my head would be wonderful – even if it was interrupted by Director Fury showing up at Cap's.

In a slightly dazed state, I found myself being led out of the training room and out the entrance of the Triskelion.

Miranda here.

Our plan depended on being able to stay a step ahead of them for at least a few hours. Just so we're clear, this plan wasn't created with hiding from S.H.I.E.L.D. in mind. We could _never_ hide from them forever. As clever as we are – even with Jack's genius IQ – we're not smarter than S.H.I.E.L.D.. It was just for if we needed to be missing for a few days.

We took Jack's car – his mom had given him one for his birthday after he got his license – and headed away from home alone for the first time. The plan was to ditch the car at a prearranged point and head out on foot for a bit, then get a car that we had hidden on Jack's uncle's farm and head to a prearranged hiding place in… well, it wouldn't be much good as a hiding place if we told you all where it was. Then again, it's not as if we don't post everything _else_ on the internet.

There was silence for a while as we drove. It was growing dark fast.

"Do you think Sharon's okay?"

Jack didn't respond for a moment. He stared out at the road, his eyes flicking up to the dark clouds starting to form. "Good thing we brought rain jackets," he said.

Chances are, Sharon _wasn't_ okay. Both of us knew that.

He suddenly stiffened, then turned and drove straight into the woods, narrowly dodging trees. He hit the brakes hard.

"Miranda, I hate to do this now, but I think we need to start walking." He pulled out his backpack, his hand trembling slightly as he did so. "There's this weird… tingling at the back of my neck. If that makes sense. Like someone's watching us."

"Yeah," I said, retrieving my back pack. "I've had that feeling too."

Brakes squealed nearby and car doors slammed.

"_Run_," he ordered.

We took off into the trees.


	7. Chapter 7

Ivy here.

So, while they were busy getting chased, I was climbing off a motor cycle in front of Cap's apartment building.

I vividly remembered crawling up those steps a couple weeks ago, dripping blood. It still hurt to walk, but I was healing nicely otherwise. Weird. I _shouldn't_ be healing that fast. I got stabbed once, a couple years ago. In a fight. Let's just say it involved a boy with a crush on me with a quick temper and leave it at that.

I'd left my mark on the woodwork, though – some of the floor was noticeably darker than the rest. I swallowed and glanced in the other direction.

We climbed up several flights of steps to Cap's floor.

Agent 13 was just coming out of her apartment with a basket of laundry.

"Hi Kate," said Cap.

"Hi." Her gaze lingered curiously on me. Probably wondering if I was something she'd need to report to S.H.I.E.L.D.

"This is Ivy," he said. "Ivy, this is Kate. The girl you helped in the lobby."

"Hello," I said. "Thank you for that. You saved my life."

"Don't mention it. I think you left your stereo on, Captain Rogers," she said, leaving down the flight of steps.

Cap paused. "Ivy, wait here a minute." He turned to go down the stairs.

"Actually, I think it's safe to go through the door," I said.

"Okay."

He headed inside.

I darted down the stairs. "Agent 13?"

She spun around, nearly dropping the basket. "What?"

"It's… really, ridiculously complicated. And I'm not sure what your clearance level is, so I actually can't tell you. I just wanted to tell you that you'll be needed upstairs in a moment."

She set down the basket on the stairs, staring at me as if I had three heads. Which would actually be less weird than the truth.

That is a really, really depressing thought.

"Um… okay? How do you know Captain Rogers?"

"Unfortunately, that's too long a story for the time we have while we wait."

She regarded me with a very paranoid expression. I tend to bring that characteristic out in people.

A gunshot sounded.

She stared at me for a moment, then ran up the stairs.

I didn't go up. If the Winter Soldier was anywhere even remotely in sight, I did _not_ want him to see me. I'd really prefer not to be killed this soon.

Ariel here.

I really don't see why they had to do it in the middle of the audition. I mean, seriously. Drawing attention to themselves much? I guess they were in a hurry. Or maybe they wanted him to be seen, to send a message to Ivy. I don't know.

The audition went really well. They dismissed me from the stage and told me to wait outside.

I walked out and closed the door. I turned in time for a fist to connect with my face. My head twisted to the side and hit the door. Bright lights flashed in front of my eyes and I slid down.

A hand closed around my throat.

I instinctively pried at my attacker's fingers. My other hand scratched out at his face.

I managed to get a hold on a finger and peeled the hand away from my windpipe. I inhaled deeply and screamed.

He punched me in the face, sending me back against the door. Something flashed in front of my eyes, slicing through my neck.

Footsteps pounded nearby. "What's going on?!" yelled a voice.

The Winter Soldier vanished.

I started to crawl toward the voice. There was dampness on my neck, running everywhere. Yuck.

Miranda here.

We lost our followers pretty easily in the woods, to be honest. The lack of light helped. As did me managing to hit one in the head with a rock.

Even once we thought we were well away, we kept walking. Eventually, morning light began to filter through the tree branches.

"How much farther is it?" I asked.

"No idea."

"Are we lost?"

"No. I just don't know where we are."

"Brilliant. Is there a difference?"

"I'm just heading in the direction I know to head in." He wiped sweat off his forehead. "I think I might have packed too much stuff."

"How many parts and tools did you bring?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Probably not."

He reached out and took my hand. "Don't worry. We planned this out ahead of time for a reason. So now, we just have to keep following the road. And to keep following the road, we have to head south. And we're heading south." He pulled out a compass from the pocket of his jeans. "Yeah, south."

Ivy here.

I had spent countless hours at the hospital as they operated on Director Fury. No matter who came past, no one spoke to me, not even Agent Romanoff when she arrived.

What a mess everything was.

Shouting and footsteps in the hallways caused me to turn around. Someone was rushed past me on a stretcher. Ariel. There was blood all over her pink shirt and an open gash along her throat.

Her gaze fixed on me and her eyes opened fully. She managed two words before they rushed her past – "Winter soldier."

Some little part of me snapped.

Pierce was behind this – I had little doubt of it. I'd already blown my cover as far as what I knew was concerned. And I was _ticked off_. I marched out of the hospital and walked all the way to the Triskelion for a little chat with him.

Just so I can maintain my history of impulsive, terrible decisions. Really, you'd think I'd have learned by now.


	8. Chapter 8

Ivy here.

I walked the whole way to the Triskelion, so angry I didn't even notice the distance. Or the blisters that developed on my feet. Last time I _ever_ wear those shoes for walking.

People who saw my expression and the badge they'd given me a few weeks ago didn't seem too interested in being in my way, no matter how unusual my appearance must have been.

I knocked on Pierce's door.

"Come in."

I shut the door behind myself a little too hard.

He looked up. "What can I do for you, Miss Williams?" he asked. As if he didn't know.

"You can tell me why my friend is bleeding out in the hospital from a slashed throat."

"Why would I know anything about that?"

"Don't. Even. Try. Just don't. We both know I'm aware of the truth and I'm not in the mood for this. See, my friend's throat was cut this afternoon. Someone else was shot in the leg a few days ago and is now missing. It seemed strange they were both attacked in the same timeframe. So I asked myself, who would want to get rid of those people? And then I realized that you have the motive and the means. And, coincidentally, employ the man who is responsible for Ariel's throat being cut." If you can call it employment. "And don't deny it, she recognized him and she told me."

"I would be careful what I insinuate."

"I'm not _insinuating_ anything. I already know the truth. We both know that. Look, my friends and I are not a threat to you unless you make us one. You've involved them now and ticked me off. You might not be glad that you did."

"Sit down."

I remained standing. "Where's Sharon? What did your people do to Sharon? Because if she doesn't make it out of this without a scratch, you might not like what happens to you."

"You know how the world is right now, Miss Williams. Disorder, war, chaos. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to fix something. Surely _you_, of all people, understand that sometimes you have to do things you'd rather not do. Sometimes people will get hurt – there's a price that has to be paid. I'm willing to pay it."

Was he saying we were the same? The very idea that we could be similar in that way made me want to throw up. "Thing is, a lot of things in life are overpriced. This is one item that's not worth what's being asked."

He studied my face for a moment. "I wish you'd reconsider. You could be so helpful. Even without your… special abilities. It's too bad you won't help."

"Are you going to kill me?" I wasn't afraid of dying. But I was afraid of what he might do to everyone else if I did. "What if your plan succeeds? You've taken away war, for now. But then we've got a dystopian sort of world, like from _The Hunger Games_ or something. And that's the sort of thing that just begs for someone to put a stop to it." Someone like me. Because if somehow he did win, I'd make it my personal mission in life to take him and HYDRA down. "World peace is good, don't get me wrong. I'd _love_ world peace. But does the end justify the means? I don't think it does."

He shrugged. "The same could be said to you."

"I know. I'm not going to ask you for more answers, because I know you won't give them. But believe me on this. You can do whatever you want to me, and you won't break me. You've already tried and failed. And I will die before I let you win this. You are going to lose. And I am going to enjoy it immensely."

He stood up from his desk. "It's a shame you won't reconsider." He leaned forward, speaking softly. "But we _did_ break you, in there. You gave us what we wanted to know."

My heart dropped into my toes. What had I said? What had they done to make me say it? "Well, I suppose that just makes things more interesting, doesn't it?" I said.

The door opened behind me and Rumlow walked in.

"Yes, I suppose it does," replied Pierce. "Agent Rumlow, would you please escort Miss Williams elsewhere?"

Rumlow's fist shot out, punching me in the stomach.

A moment later, he was kneeling on the floor, arm twisted at an angle I knew from experience to be highly unpleasant. I let go and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him into the ground.

"You little snake," muttered Rumlow.

I turned to Pierce. "I'm leaving now. I would prefer if I weren't followed. My emotional state at the moment is not conducive to showing mercy to anyone who gets in my way."

"You really think I'm going to let you leave this building alive?"

I was starting to realize that this was one of my most stupid decisions ever. That's quite the accomplishment, considering all of my other horrible ideas.

A hand grabbed my leg, pulling me onto the ground. My nose snapped when it connected with the carpet. I rolled onto my back and kicked Rumlow where it hurts a guy most.

Rumlow rolled off me with a little yell of pain. I kicked out. My heel connected with his face.

"Funny things about snakes, Rumlow. They don't attack unless they feel threatened, but when they do strike, they can be deadly." I scrambled to my feet and faced them both. "I'll jump out that window before I tell you anything."

Pierce aimed a gun at me. "What about your friend that we have? And don't forget your family. Your brother's in that concert in a few weeks. It would be a shame if all his fingers were broken. If you die or try to escape, you never know what could happen. And we have a perfectly valid reason to lock you up – after all, you _did_ just accuse a member of the World Security Council of being behind all the attacks on your friends. Hardly something a _sane_ person would do."

"This was your plan the whole time, wasn't it?"

"And you fell for it. They were, of course, threats, but you're the worst one. The others could have been left alone, if not for you."

Great. Just great.

Ariel here.

Somehow, in my life, I've managed to avoid going to the emergency room. I've never been sick enough or injured myself badly enough that I would need to go to the hospital. I can't say I was happy about breaking that streak.

Knowing that if they really wanted me dead, I'd be dead, was really quite disturbing. I'm almost certain that it was a warning for Ivy, or a way to put me out of the game for a while. Whichever it was, it worked.

Footsteps sounded nearby.

I turned my head, expecting to see my mom or dad or a doctor.

It was Agent Romanoff, chewing gum. She sat on a chair next to the bed. "Hi. You know who attacked you?"

I gave her a small nod.

"Do you know why?"

I shrugged. I had guesses, but that was really about it.

"Don't worry. No one's going to let anything happen to you again."

I would have burst out laughing if my throat could have handled it. Instead, I just coughed rather pathetically. As if _anyone_ except for Captain America could stop the Winter Soldier.

"There's someone I owe who wants you protected."

"You mean Ivy or…" I let my voice trailed off.

She actually looked a little startled at this. "Or who?" she asked. "You… know about him?"

I nodded. "Hawkeye."

"Who told you?"

"Don't know. Folder on my doorstep. Lab reports. Does he know?"

Agent Romanoff shook her head. "He's been away lately. I doubt S.H.I.E.L.D.'s told him. Does Ivy know?"

I nodded. "Told her. Where is she?"

"She's safe. At the Triskelion."

I burst out coughing again.


	9. Chapter 9

Ivy here.

A knock sounded on the door and it came open. "Excuse me, but –" Cap stopped mid sentence, taking in the scene. Rumlow on the floor. Me on my feet. Both of us bleeding. Pierce pointing a gun.

"She attacked him," said Rumlow instantly.

"He's lying," I snapped. "He attacked me first."

Cap didn't seem to know what to do or say for a moment. He looked from me to Rumlow.

"Why?" he asked, addressing me.

"I can't tell you yet. But it was self defense."

He glanced back and forth again. "I don't know what to think, exactly, but I do know that Ivy doesn't tell lies. I trust what she tells me." He reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me behind him. "We're leaving now."

"Miss Williams," said Pierce. "What I said still stands."

"I have no doubt it does. But this is bigger than me and what I want. What's that thing they said in _Star Trek_? Uh… the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?" I'm not really all that into _Star Trek_. Miranda, however, made me watch most of the original series with her, and some of the movies. The only episode I actually liked was the one with the tribbles.

"It's your choice," said Pierce.

"I know."

Cap grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hallway toward the elevator. "Mind explaining what all that was about?"

"I can't tell you yet." Sharon… Ariel… what had I _done_?

We stepped inside the elevator.

Rumlow and a few others stepped in behind us.

"Captain… we have some specs on the shooter," he said.

The elevator stopped at more levels, letting on more people at each one. My heart started to pound.

I glanced over at Rumlow, but his back was to me.

"Before we get started," said Cap, "does anyone want to get out?"

Silence.

"Suit yourselves," I said.

Rumlow spun around, stabbing at Cap. I moved out of the way, only for one of the other HYDRA agents to grab me around the middle and try to lift me off the ground. My head jerked back into his face, then my elbows. He dropped me in time for him to take the punch that another agent had thrown toward my face. I threw that guy into the side of the elevator, taking out another person who tried to kick me.

Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Cap, with one arm pinned to the wall in a magnetic cuff, was still taking guys out.

I did my best to keep people off him while he pulled his arm off the wall. However, they were trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and once their shock at seeing my mad skills was over, they didn't cut me any slack. Fists pounded against my still bruised and sore skin. I moved among them, dealing out some damage while receiving _plenty_ in return. I sidestepped a swipe of Rumlow's knife and caught his arm, prying the knife out his hand.

He blocked my stab, knocked the knife out of my hand, and spun me around, locking his arms around my neck in a choke.

I flipped him over my shoulder, breaking his hold.

Cap moved in, knocking him over.

"It wasn't personal," said Rumlow, staring up at me, eyes flickering shut.

"Really? Because it kind of felt personal," I growled.

Jack here.

We kept heading south through the woods and eventually we reached a small town.

"You're sure this car actually works?" asked Miranda. Her curly hair was full of sweat and rain. We'd been walking for ages and were both exhausted.

"It better work, I did all the repairs myself."

"You do car repair now?" she asked.

"Don't have to, I already did."

We walked through the bushes on the outskirts of town, to my uncle's house. He owes a couple acres of heavily treed ground, so we weren't too worried about being seen as we climbed over the tall fence and picked the lock on his shed, where we kept the car.

I started going over the car. The tires weren't flat. Good. All it needed was gas. Which we didn't have any of. As Miranda would say, "Brilliant".

I retrieved the cash that I had stashed in the glove compartment. "You stay here. I'll get some gas, then we can go."

Miranda moved to another compartment and removed the contents, dumping it onto the driver's seat. Dried fruit, dried meat, and other preserved food, enough to last a few days. Two pocket knives. Pepper spray. A flashlight. Duct tape.

And we're not even getting to the stuff we stored in… other places. I'm refraining from mentioning where because if you know where all the hiding places are, they're not really hiding places anymore.

"Do you think we're a little too paranoid?" asked Miranda. "Because I'm wondering if we plan stuff out a bit too much."

"Nah, we're just paranoid enough. Besides, you're only paranoid if you're wrong. If there really is someone out to kill you, then you're smart."

"Okay, I wasn't sure."

She put the stuff back in the compartment, except for the pepper spray. This she left on the seat next to her.

Her gaze fell on the ground, fixing on something. "Is that a flower?"

It was. A flower growing in the middle of the cement floor of the shed.

"Weird," I said. "You wait here. I'm going to go get some fuel. Don't hesitate to use the pepper spray."

"Don't worry. I might be a black belt in karate like you and Ivy, but I'm not _completely_ helpless."

"Okay, I'll go then. If I'm not back in forty minutes, head out on your own. Don't wait for me, do _not_ come looking for me. Got it? Just go." I'd hold her to that promise, too.

Ivy here.

"You okay?" asked Cap.

I nodded. "I will be."

"That was impressive."

"Thanks. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s not too happy."

"I take it there's more people here to take me out?"

"Oh yeah. The only way out is jumping out of the elevator."

He glanced out through the glass side. "You mean… are you nuts?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

He smashed the side of the elevator.

Could I even survive the fall? Whatever. If I stayed, they'd catch me and kill me or try to extract information. I'd rather go quickly by hitting the pavement. Gravity would be more merciful than HYDRA. Probably. "The sooner we get moving, the more time we have to put between them and us," I said.

He wrapped my arms around him. "Hold on and don't let go."

"Believe me, I wasn't planning on it."

He jumped out.

Though jumping was fastest, let me tell you, it was _scary_. I screamed the whole way down.

Slamming the ground was about what I'd expected. It was like hitting the ground after falling twenty or so stories. It sent a jolt through my body and for a moment I thought every bone in my body was broken.

Then a hand gripped mine, pulling me onto my feet. "Come on, _run_."

I obeyed.


	10. Chapter 10

[So, you said to describe everything in detail, as I remember it? Okay, thanks.]

Hi, this is Edward.

So, I go to school with Ivy – which you probably know. And I act, which Ariel's probably filled in right now. That viral video with us as Erik and Christine did get me some recognition too, but not nearly as much. Not that I'm complaining – she deserves all the attention she gets. But it's kind of annoying to be "that guy who was Erik opposite Ariel Dalton", instead of "Edward".

And before you start Twilight jokes, I was named after the Edward from _Jane Eyre_. Mom read it a lot before she had me.

Miranda's glaring at me and telling me to get on with it. Sorry, Miranda.

So, it was after school. I walked home. I never used to before I moved here, but the school was closer now.

Weird stuff was going on. First, Ivy goes missing for weeks, then shows up at her house one night, then disappears again. Then Sharon gets shot and disappears from the hospital. Jack and Miranda had suddenly disappeared, leaving a note telling Ivy that her dog was okay, of all things. To top it off, Ariel had nearly gotten killed, _twice_, while she was gone.

Ivy was the only connection between these people that I knew of.

A car pulled up next to the curb where I was walking and someone got out, blocking the sidewalk.

"Hi. Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm from the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"The what?" The name sounded vaguely familiar, but I wasn't sure where from or why.

"S.H.I.E.L.D."

For a moment, I just stared at him blankly – and probably pretty stupidly. "Uh… you mean like from the new_ Captain America _movie?" The guy looked like one of the agents from the movie, I couldn't remember the guy's name… Sitwell, wasn't it?

This whole situation didn't sit well with me. Get it? Sit well?

[Oh, come on, Ivy, it's not that bad. Is it? Yeah. You're right. It is that bad.]

He frowned. "I'm Agent Jasper Sitwell." He showed me his badge. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is real."

This was really starting to weird me out. "How can I help you?"

"I need you to come with me immediately."

"Why?"

"That's classified."

I didn't know what was going on, but this was really creepy. I took a step back. "I don't know who thought this was funny, Mr. – sorry, _Agent_ Sitwell. But it's not."

He took a step forward as I continued to move backward. "This isn't a joke."

I started to back up more quickly. Would I have to fight to get away? Hopefully not.

I've seen fighting in movies and on TV. Unfortunately, I've never had much skill at it. On my first day of fifth grade, one of the bigger guys had picked a fight with me. The outcome was something I would really prefer to forget, and certainly isn't something I want to share on the internet. Still, I had a basic idea of what to do now.

I'd seen Ivy fight a guy once too. After a practice for the musical we were both in, _Phantom of the Opera_, one of the guy actors, the one who'd played Raoul, had approached her and started talking to her in a low voice. Her face had instantly gone red. I don't know exactly what he said, but Ivy looked really uncomfortable with it. I was too far away to hear anything.

He'd kept talking and had grabbed her wrist.

She'd snarled something at him. He'd given her wrist a tug.

She'd twisted her wrist hard, breaking his grip, then spun around. Her style of fighting was almost like an art form – a really, really scary art form that landed the guy on the ground in seconds. She didn't actually hurt him, but I really doubt he enjoyed it when his chin hit the stage and his arm was twisted behind his back.

Unfortunately, I wasn't Ivy and, if I was being completely honest with myself, didn't have a chance in a fight with, well, anybody.

I took another step back. "So, let me get this straight… you're claiming to be a guy from a fictional world, working for a fictional organization, and you want me to believe it's real and go with you to who knows where, and you won't tell me why because it's 'classified'."

He just stared at me for a moment. "Yeah."

I kicked him and ran.

Footsteps pounded on the pavement behind me. Someone yelled for me to stop.

A pair of arms grabbed me from behind, pulling me backwards. My head jerked back into the guy's face. His grip loosened and I slid free.

Something sharp stabbed into the back of my neck. My knees gave out and I collapsed onto the pavement just as everything went black.

Hi, everybody. Ivy here.

We made it outside, where Cap got his motorcycle and we tried to ride it out. Aside from the quinjet, which Cap took out with his shield, and a few other little mishaps chronicled by the movie, we really didn't have much trouble getting out.

I only wished I'd been able to grab my stuff before I left. Luckily, taking a leaf out of Miranda and Jack's book, I've started being better prepared and have a few essentials on me in a bag inside my shirt all the time. It's kind of annoying when you're wearing it, but when you're on the run from a secret organization that's infiltrated the government, it becomes worth it. My hoodie was also reversible – a useful gift from Sharon.

"Do you know who the shooter was?" asked Cap as we climbed off of his motorcycle in front of the hospital.

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me?"

"No. Agent Romanoff will tell you when you see her next. Cap... I'm sorry."

"He was shot because he ticked off the wrong people. You had nothing to do with it, did you?"

I shook my head.

"Then it's not your fault. Don't apologize."

"Thanks." There was a pause. "Cap, could you just go inside ahead? I'll be right behind you. I just… it's complicated."

He nodded and walked inside, leaving me alone.

A minute later, a body dropped down onto the ground beside me. A pair of skinny, icy arms wrapped around me. "Ivy! Are you okay?"

"Hi, Jack," I said, pulling away from Jack Frost. "Yeah, I'm fine. A little tired and sore, but fine. But I need a favor."

"Like I said, I owe you one."

"Just a minute."

I scribbled out a letter to my family, telling them they had to clear out and fast. "Take this to my house, leave it on a table where someone will see it."

"Okay."

What about Sharon?

"And please find Sharon, if you can. She's in danger."

"I heard. Don't worry. I'll find her for you. Anything else?"

"No. Thanks, Jack. I owe you for this."

"No you don't. We're friends, right? Friends do for each other." He jumped and took off into the clear blue sky.

I headed inside. I prayed he could find Sharon. I couldn't.

Sharon here. Yeah, I actually still exist. Surprising, right?

I don't really remember much of what happened in that hospital room. Someone pulling me out of bed, me kicking them. What I do remember is waking up with an intense headache to hear someone hit the ground beside me. A door slammed.

"Sharon?" said a male voice.

I sat up, blinking. Lying next to me was a guy with brown hair and a vaguely familiar face. Where did I know him from? Oh, right, that musical. And he had a crush on Ivy. Well, he was one of the many boys in our school who do. "Edward?" I said.

"What's going on?" he asked. He looked absolutely terrified. I didn't blame him.


	11. Chapter 11

Ivy here.

Ariel's room took a little time to find, but I eventually did. A bunch of people had sent flowers and the room smelled like a florist's shop. "Hi," I said. I sat down next to the bed. Her throat had been sliced open, then stitched back together. "You're in danger. You need to get out as fast as you can."

Ariel lay still for a moment. "Don't worry about me." She pulled one hand out from under the blankets. Was that a _noose_? "Didn't spend every minute in that cave singing." In case I haven't mentioned it already, she was taught to sing by the Phantom of the Opera. His favorite weapon is the Punjab lasso, and I guess he taught her to use it.

I shook my head and smiled. "How will you explain this is anyone sees it?"

"I'll think of something. Don't I always?"

Agent Romanoff was waiting outside the door. "How's she doing?"

"I think she'll be fine as long as she stays alert. And I doubt she'll be able to fall asleep if she knows someone's trying to kill her, so she should be good."

"You're smiling."

I quickly wiped the smile off my face. "Oh, just thinking."

We walked to a nearby mall and found an Apple store.

"Any particular instructions?" asked Agent Romanoff as she produced the drive.

"Nothing you haven't already thought of, no. You have about nine minutes."

She put the device into the computer and started typing.

"Why did Rumlow attack you?" asked Cap.

"Pierce told him to." What had I told them? What had they done to make me tell?

"Can I help you guys with anything?" asked the Apple Store guy.

Agent Romanoff moved away from the computer, wrapping her arm around Cap. "Oh no, my fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."

I turned around, facing a computer and pretending not to listen to the conversation.

"You said nine minutes, have we got anything?" asked Cap once the guy had left.

"Relax," said Agent Romanoff.

Cap looked at the destination onscreen.

"You know it?" she asked.

"I used to. Let's go."

Sharon here.

I tried to stand up, only for my leg to give out underneath me. Pain shot up from my knee. Right. Getting shot there would do that.

"Sharon?" asked Edward. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" I glanced around the room. There was a door in one cement wall. No windows. "Edward, listen carefully. I don't know where we are or what's going to happen. I _think_ they're going to ask for information. It doesn't matter what it is or what they do, _don't_ tell them. Do not answer questions about Marvel. Or Ivy."

"_Marvel_? You mean like the movies? And what's wrong with Ivy?"

"And comics. It's too complicated to explain right now."

He stared at me like I was crazy. I didn't blame him. "Okay?" he said, more confused than anything else.

I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him toward me. "Edward, no matter what happens, you _can't say a_ _word_."

The door banged open. The first thing the person did was grab me by the throat and pick me up off the throat.

I clawed at my attacker's hand and scratched at his face.

Edward lunged at the guy, telling him he shouldn't treat a girl like that. It got him a bloody nose.

"You care about your country, right?" said the man. "Well, we do too. Society's at a tipping point, and you telling us could tip the scales in the favor of the United States."

"I'm Canadian."

Judging from his reaction, I had said the wrong thing.

After a few hours, the guy left us for a while, letting us recover from our injuries.

Edward hadn't cracked yet. I was impressed.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" he asked, inspecting a painful looking bruise on his leg with his hand – a finger of which had been broken.  
I shook my head. "The less you know, the better."  
"I'm not putting up with another round of this without knowing why!" snapped Edward.

"Okay. Ivy can travel between different universes, and she's put us both into one where Marvel stuff is real, and if you answer their questions, they'll put it to use. They're the bad guys, got it?"

A flower suddenly appeared in the floor. A pink flower, the one spot of color in the room.

Edward shook his head. "That's ridiculous."  
"My story or the flower?"  
"Both."

Frost suddenly started to form on the wall. Words formed in the frost. _Jack Frost and the Easter Bunny are here to help_. Since when had Ivy met the Guardians, and why hadn't she told me?

Jack Frost suddenly appeared in the corner of the room. Next to him stood the Easter Bunny.

I shouldn't have to say that as if it's a normal occurrence.

"Hi," I said.

"There you are! You two were hard to find. I'm Jack Frost, but already knew that," said Jack Frost.

"Yeah, I did," I admitted. "That's Edward."  
"Oh. Isn't he the guy who I always seem walking past Ivy's house? He's always there when I visit on Saturdays, walking past."  
"Jack Frost –"

"Doesn't exist. None of this exists. This is all in my head, because that's the only remotely logical explanation. Or maybe it's all in your head."

"The longer you deny it, the dumber you look," I said. "Denying it for a little while makes you look sane, but really, you haven't got any reason to believe anything else right now."

He backed away. "You're crazy!"

Footsteps pounded in the hall.  
"Edward, calm down and do what I tell you to. I'm getting out. You're free to stay if you want, but I really want to leave." I crawled across the floor toward Jack Frost. "Follow me," I ordered Edward.

He glanced at the door and followed me.

The Easter Bunny tapped his foot and we fell through the floor into a well lit tunnel.

We were out of there. Thank God.

Between Edward, who was able to stand, and Jack Frost, they helped me to walk down the tunnel. I don't know what Edward was seeing, but I do know that he looked like he was about to faint any moment.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the Easter Kangaroo's warren."

I laughed, then doubled over coughing. My attacker had stomped on my ribs a few times – I suspected there would be some nasty damage. "Where's Ivy?" I asked once I was breathing normally again.

"I don't know," said Jack Frost. "I saw her in Washington D.C. this morning, when she told me to look for you."

"How'd you find us?"

"That's a long, complicated story involving some yetis trying out computer software and some very… entertaining moments at the North Pole."

Ivy here.

I slept on the way to the base and woke up to someone shaking my shoulder.

"We're here," said Agent Romanoff.

I blinked the sleep from my eyes and climbed out of the car.

It was dark out. No moon and no stars. It seemed strangely appropriate for fugitives breaking into an abandoned-ish military base.

"Anything we should look for?" asked Agent Romanoff as we slipped in under the fence.

"Cap will notice when he sees it."

A cold sensation ran down my spine. Not fear, just the sense of something cold nearby.

I turned. "_Jack Frost_?" I yelped.

"I found your friends."

"Oh, thank God, is Sharon – wait. Friend_s_? As in, multiple?"

"That guy Edward was there too."

I groaned. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"Ivy? Are you okay?" asked Agent Romanoff, eyeing me with a _very_ worried expression.

"Yeah, fine," I said. "I'm talking to Jack Frost. No, I'm crazy. Yes, there is a good reason you can't see him."

She frowned and peered in his direction, blinking slightly. "Okay." She gave me the kind of look you give a crazy person when you're humoring them.

"Are they okay?" I asked Jack.

"They're alive."

"But they're in bad shape. How bad?"

Jack Frost can be very difficult to get information from. However, I eventually pieced together that Sharon had a broken arm, a couple cracked ribs, and a concussion, while Edward had a few broken fingers. That's not including the bruises and other various injuries that some sicko or sickos inflicted – and it's not even beginning to cover the mental scars. If I ever meet who was responsible…

Jack jumped into the air and vanished.

"Are you okay?" asked Agent Romanoff.

"Yeah. They found Sharon. She's going to be okay. She's going to be okay. And Edward. He is too."

"Edward? You mean that kid who walks by your house every Saturday night and stares up at the window like he's looking for you?

I think I'm the only person who _didn't_ know about that by now. Stalker much? Seriously, for a guy who hates Twilight jokes…

"We found it," said Agent Romanoff.

"Let's go."

We entered the old S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Lights began to turn on, illuminating the desks and the logo on the wall.

"There's an elevator behind one of the bookshelves," I said.

The lights turned on as we entered the large room that the elevator led to. Agent Romanoff walked over to the computer in the middle of the room and started typing. "Would you like to play a game?" she said, then turned to Cap. "That's from a movie –"

"I know, I saw it."

The screens began to light up and flicker and Zola's voice announced our names. Even mine.

"Hello, Dr. Zola," I said.

"Hello, Miss Williams. It's good to finally talk to you. I've heard so much about you."

I ran my finger along the desk – it hadn't been dusted in a _long_ time. Seriously, you'd think if Zola's so important, they'd clean that room every year or two. "Okay, everybody, short version of what's going on. Zola was recruited to work for the United States, then he got sick, so they saved his brain on this computer. We're standing inside his brain."

"That's… kind of disturbing," said Agent Romanoff.

"I suppose that might be why he doesn't get many visitors."


	12. Chapter 12

Ivy here.

"Zola's a German – sorry, _Swiss_ scientist from War World II," I said to Agent Romanoff. "He worked for the Red Skull and for HYDRA. And still does, I suppose. Well, as well as he can with no body or actual life. I, personally, would rather be dead than live forever like this. How do you _stand_ it?" I asked Zola, turning to his face on the screen. "Not being able to move or breathe or talk to anyone who doesn't come down here? You just sit here, gathering dust - literally. Seriously. Is that why you prepare montages of HYDRA's achievements? Because you're so incredibly bored?" There was silence for a moment. "You can give your evil gloating speech now, along with that footage."

"You've ruined the effect," he muttered. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s has been infiltrated by HYDRA since its beginning, we instigated many major events of the last fifty years, you died for nothing, Captain."

More silence. I was pretty sure they were both shocked, but I wasn't sure how much of it was from Zola's announcement and how much was from our conversation.

"Oh, and he's been stalling for time and there's a missile heading for this bunker."

Cap sprang into action, ripping out a section of grating from the floor. He grabbed me and Agent Romanoff and jumped down. He held his shield to protect us.

The world around me exploded.

Sharon here.

I lay on a rock, eyes closed, sun warming my face, listening to Jack Frost and the Easter Bunny talk.

Edward had curled himself up into a ball at the bottom of the rock. I was leaving him alone for now. We both should have gone to a hospital, but neither of us was in immediate danger of dying and we'd had our broken bones set and injuries tended to, so it wasn't strictly an emergency.

"So… Ivy can travel between universes. And now, apparently we can." Edward's voice pulled me out of my reverie.

"Yeah, on her power. She leaves it on whatever she touches. She wears gloves, but it can't block everything. You can't tell anyone, Edward. Not even her parents know. It's just you, me, Ivy, Miranda, Jack, and Ariel."

"Jack _Lewis_? I didn't even know that they were friends. I mean, I knew they knew each other, but _friends_? And Ariel? Are you sure?"

I detailed the events which had taken place when I found out about Ivy – everything that had happened in London. Going through a portal, being on Asgard, getting over my crush on Loki the hard way.

"I must be dreaming all this," said Edward. "It's just the sort of thing that could only happen in a dream. Or in a movie. Or some lousy book, like a fanfiction or something."

I slid off the rock and pinched him, hard. "You're not dreaming," I promised as he winced. "And I _like_ fanfiction."

Miranda here.

You know that safe house we mentioned that we had? Well, it isn't safe anymore.

We got there at four in the morning. I'd fallen asleep and Jack had to shake me awake. I pulled out my backpack and we walked toward the house. I won't tell you why we had it as a safe place or where it is. It's probably better if I don't get into everything.

We walked up to the house.

Jack produced a key, then froze. "Miranda, I need you to listen closely," he said in a low voice. "Don't glance over your shoulder. There's someone standing in the trees over there, by the shed. There's probably people in the house and everywhere else."

"Should we go back to the car?" I suggested. "No, we'd probably be dead the moment we started it." I considered our other options. Pretty much none.

A red dot appeared on Jack's chest.

I shoved him hard.

A gunshot sounded. Something went through the floorboards at our feet.

"Go!" I took off at a sprint.

Something flew past my ear. Footsteps slammed the ground behind me. My heart thudded. I don't like fighting. I'm not good at it.

I spun around, pepper sprayed the person who was nearly within arm's length, and kept running. Something grabbed my backpack. I slipped it off and kicked backwards. My foot connected with a shin. I kept running, stumbling over tree roots and rocks and probably leaving a trail that anyone with a flashlight could follow.

Jack here.

I had seen the red dot the second before Miranda had shoved me. Then I had run.

We had taken opposite directions – one's harder to catch than two.

I really, really wished I had a weapon of some sort. Unfortunately, Miranda had the pepper spray.

I suppose it won't hurt anything to say that I had spent a lot of time at this house once. I knew the area really well. Nothing would have changed around here. I had a chance.

A gun fired behind me. Something sailed by my head.

A dark shadow appeared in front of me. I darted to the side.

A horrible plan occurred to me. The property used to have a shed. I could see it, out of the corner of my eye… I turned suddenly, sprinting to the shed, slamming and bolting the door behind myself. The door might buy me thirty seconds, if I was lucky.

The shed had been emptied out since I'd been here last, but that shouldn't be a problem. I jumped up, grabbing the trapdoor in the roof and pulling it open.

The door shook.

I pulled myself up onto the slanting, rain drenched roof and shut the door. Up here, tree branches obscured me from view on the ground – hopefully. I used to hide up here when I was in trouble. Mom couldn't see me and she didn't know I could climb up here yet.

I climbed from the roof into a tree, moving as quietly as I could upwards. The branches were as sturdy, if not more so, than I remembered them.

The trap door opened in the roof.

"Spread out!" yelled a voice. "Search the ground. He can't have run far."

I climbed higher. The trees grew close together – in theory, I could climb from tree to tree, like a squirrel. I'd done it once, I could do it again. Maybe.

It was a long, exhausting process going from tree to tree. Fortunately, they had _really_ sturdy branches and grew so close together that the branches of two trees often were mixed together. When I didn't think anyone was below me, I climbed down the tree.

Miranda and me had planned in case the hiding place was ever discovered. We would meet up at a particular street in the nearest town. Our plan from there… get a car somehow and head out from there to Washington D.C. It was a long drive, but Ivy would probably be there by now – hopefully. And I… know someone there. Sort of.

It was a long walk, but I eventually got to the town.

Miranda, when I got to the street, however, was nowhere to be seen. It was pitch black and there was no one on the streets.

I slipped into an alley and waited. And waited. It was almost light out when I finally saw her coming down the sidewalk.

I stepped out to greet her and stopped short. "Miranda, are you okay?"

She had a black eye and was limping slightly, as if it hurt to walk. "Yeah," she said. "They caught up with me. But I'm fine, as you can see. This way."

She took a few steps ahead, turned so I could see her face, then blinked her eyes very quickly four times. Our signal for "I'm going to communicate in morse code using blinks because I can't tell you out loud". Yes, we actually have a signal for that. Yes, we both need better ways to spend our time.

She communicated her message in blinks. _In danger was caught they are watching will shoot lead you into a trap_.

I kept my face as impassive as possible as she delivered the message. I reached across and took her hand for a moment. "You remember our backup plan? The second one."

She nodded slightly. She started to blink, indicating where she knew people were. "Okay." She hesitated. "Um… in case this doesn't work –"

"You came up with it. Of course it'll work."

"Not necessarily."

"If it works, I'll buy you an ice cream cone when this is over."

"I'll hold you to that. You know what I like."

"Yeah. Chocolate with as much caramel and chocolate bits and stuff like that as possible in it." I pulled a small device out of my sleeve and handed it to her. "Are you ready?"

"Don't have much of a choice, do I?"


	13. Chapter 13

Ivy here.

The first thing I was aware of was ringing in my ears. Damage from the explosion? Great. The last thing I need is impaired hearing.

"Ivy? Are you okay?" The voice filtered through the ringing.

"I'm alive and conscious," I replied.

"We have to get out of here. S.H.I.E.L.D. – HYDRA – is going to be crawling all over the place in a minute."

There was a sound of cement scraping cement, and dim light poured in.

"Ivy!" said Cap.

I realized he'd been saying something to me and had repeated it several times.

"We're heading right back to the car and getting out of here. I have a friend back in Washington who can help. Though you already knew that."

I nodded and followed him out, back to the car.

We made it to Sam Wilson's house early in the morning.

"We have nowhere else to go," said Cap when he answered the door.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," added Agent Romanoff.

"Not everyone," said Sam Wilson, opening the door to let us in. "Who's this?" he asked.

"This is Ivy Williams," said Agent Romanoff.

"Didn't you go missing a month or two ago? I saw it on the news."

"Yeah, I did. Yes, my parents know I'm safe."

"She's been involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. ever since the Battle of New York due to… various circumstances," said Agent Romanoff. "Now the people who are after us want her, too."

"Why?"

"Oh, I can see the future."

He laughed.

I laughed too.

Miranda here.

I took off at a run.

Behind me, a gun went off. Footsteps pounded on the pavement.

I spun around, aimed the device at the first pursuer, and squeezed the button.

He collapsed.

I did the same to the other and took off running.

It was a bit like a taser, I guess, except for that Jack had designed it. It wasn't anything lethal, under normal circumstances, but it _will_ stop you in your tracks for a few minutes.

Someone else hit the ground nearby.

"What's going on?!" yelled a voice from nearby. Someone was running up the street – a random person who was about to be caught in the cross fire.

"Run!" yelled Jack.

We circled around buildings, making use of hiding places, only firing if we saw someone coming close.

I didn't know much about fighting – just what Ivy had taught me. She'd done her best, but I'm just not cut out for it.

Snow suddenly began to fall around me. Not slowly, like a snowfall normally starts. But fast, pouring out onto the ground. Icy winds blew the snow everywhere, obscuring everything from vision.

A hand grabbed mine. "This way," said a somewhat familiar male voice.

I ran along with the person and suddenly found myself outside of the clouds of snow, in the dark street again, staring at Sharon.

She threw an arm around my neck – the other arm was in a cast. "Miranda! Thank God you're alive."

"I should say the same for you! What happened?"

"It can wait."

A movement behind her caught my attention. I peered over her shoulder. "_Edward_?" Okay, start from the beginning."

They detailed what had happened. I recounted my story as well, as did Jack when he emerged, along with Jack Frost.

I couldn't pretend to be surprised. I knew Ivy had met up with the Guardians while on a weekend trip out of town. Fortunately, no one noticed my lack of surprise.

"What now?" I asked.

"We should hide," said Sharon. "Ivy would want us to stay out of the way."

"Just because Ivy wants something doesn't mean she should have it. She also needs support from people who care about her – now more than ever, with her information coming out over the internet soon."

"Are you suggesting we go to Washington DC and get caught in the crossfire?" asked Jack. "Because there is no way I'm going to let you do that."

"Well, we should get back to the car at any rate. We can't stay here – those guys will be out of the storm pretty quick."

"Thank you, Jack Frost," I said, turning to him. "If you hadn't showed up…"

"No problem."

"Your plan seemed to be working, though," said Jack – not Jack Frost, the other one. "Now, we need to go."

"Just a minute," said Jack Frost.

He darted into the sky.

A moment later, the car landed next to us.

"You're welcome to stay at the Warren," said Jack Frost. "But something tells me you won't want to."

"We have to at least find a way to contact Ivy," I said. "Tell her we're all alive and safe. If that means driving to Washington DC and getting caught in the crossfire, that's what it means."

"Miranda, _no_," said Jack.

"You are not in charge."

"Apparently not. I'm just trying to do the thing that's best for everyone. That's what she'd want."

"Just because Ivy wants something doesn't mean we give it to her. Don't you think she'd also want to know we're okay?"

"We are _not_ going to Washington D.C., right into the middle of trouble, just to tell Ivy we're okay. We can call Ariel or something. I'm sure she'll see Ivy while she's there."

"You don't think they'll have people on our location the moment we dial Ariel's number?"

"Can I interrupt?" asked Sharon.

"What?!" we both yelled.

"It's just that we should probably go before they get out of the snowstorm."

Jack and I both climbed into the front seats, arguing the whole way. Edward and Sharon got in behind us in the back seats.

"Nice car," said Edward. "But I thought you had that black car? The one from your mom?"

"I got a deal on this one and fixed it up. We had to ditch the black one yesterday – too easy to recognize." He took a deep breath. "Alright. I'm going to offer you all a choice. We can stop somewhere a few hours from here and let you off, or continue on to Washington D.C."

"Ivy told me that the energy pulls us toward events. We'd probably end up there anyhow, somehow," said Sharon.

"That's the only reason I'm going along with this."

"I've never been to the capital. So count me in."

I quote Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ to describe Sharon: "Though she be but little, she is fierce". A little on the short side, but she's brave and can take a beating.

"Edward?"

"Fine, if what Sharon said is true."

"Then I guess we're off to Washington DC." I prayed this wasn't a mistake.


	14. Chapter 14

Ivy here.

Miranda, I appreciate your concern, but _never do that again_.

I took a long time cleaning myself up. Cleaning every bit of dirt from my skin.

Once I was done, I stared in the mirror at my reflection.

I'd come a long way in the last few years.

I'd been fifteen. Enthusiastic about _everything_. A bit silly, sometimes. I'd just gotten a black belt in karate and, overall, felt pretty good about life.

And then I had to go on a stupid walk in the woods and meet Hawkeye.

Now I was seventeen, with no real plans for a future aside from staying alive, and a boatload of guilt feelings, emotional issues, and memory issues.

Some of what HYDRA had done was obvious to guess. _But what had I told them_? To make me tell them something… what had they done? Maybe Sitwell would know. I can't say I felt too bad about what was going to happen to him.

I couldn't stop thinking about how I'd never guessed. All the times I'd seen him onscreen…

That episode of _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._, "The Hub". Simmons had _flirted_ with him, then shoot him with the night night gun. ICER. Whatever. I had just watched, laughing and groaning.

And then "The End of the Beginning". Garrett making a joke about how Sitwell had never taken a bullet for S.H.I.E.L.D. I'd actually felt a little _annoyed_ with Garrett – there's other things he could have done that are worse than getting shot.

And I'd never guessed. Not once.

I gathered myself together and headed downstairs.

Agent Romanoff and Cap were having breakfast already. I joined them.

"So, what should we do next?" asked Agent Romanoff when Sam Wilson was out of the room for a moment. "Or can't you tell us?"

I considered for a moment, fingers twisting my purity ring around my finger. "Alexander Pierce fired that missile at you. My memory's a little fuzzy on some of the details, but you could ask Agent Sitwell. He's in the area. He has some answers. Oh! But there's something you need first."

As if on cue, Sam Wilson returned and tossed some pictures down on the table.

"What's this?" asked Cap.

"Call it a resume."

He studied the pictures. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

"I _never_ said I was a pilot."

"Was this what you were talking about?" asked Cap, addressing me.

I nodded.

As they talked about how to get Sam Wilson's wings, my mind started to wander.

Something had been bothering me very since this had started. I'd been feeling… different, somehow. Not sick, exactly. Just different. Had they done something to me that when beyond the physical bumps and bruises?

If they did, I hoped they'd filled me up with something useful. Like something that regenerated cells or provided super strength. Something cool.

"We're going to go get those wings now," said Cap, breaking my out of my reverie. "Any suggestions?"

"Not really."

Sam Wilson looked a little surprise that Captain America was asking a seventeen year old girl's advice, but didn't ask questions.

Ariel here.

Mom picked up some comic books for me to read because she thought I was feeling bored. She's always given me comic books when I was sick or whatever – it somehow developed as a tradition after I got the flu when I was eight.

Believe me, after I found those books, I was anything _but_ bored.

There was some Batman and Superman stuff in there, but it was mostly Spiderman titles. I had a bit of a crush on Spiderman when I was ten or eleven, and he's still my favorite superhero. After Hawkeye, that is.

I picked up a new issue of a Spiderman comic and started reading through it. It was a crossover – Spiderman and some girl with a huge, fancy mask and costume, both pale blue. It looked a bit like Hawkeye's first costume, except a bit frillier. More feminine. I'd never seen her before.

Spidey called the girl Sapphire. She used a gun as her weapon of choice, but also had little tricks up her sleeve and tried to boss him around a lot.

It was the end that gave me pause, though.

On the last page, she took off the mask.

She was me. Every line of her face was almost identical. Big eyes, long chocolate brown hair. She even had the same identifying birthmark – I have one on the palm of my left hand, and she did too.

"The new crossover's really good, isn't it?" said a nurse.

"Where's Sapphire from?" I asked.

Apparently, Sapphire had been introduced as a minor character in _West Coast Avengers_, then been revealed to be Hawkeye's little sister. Her real name was Ariel Dalton.

She'd had a title of her own a few years ago, been on the anti-registration side in the Civil War, had a rivalry with Kate Bishop in regards to their aim, had frequent appearances in the new _Hawkeye_ title… apparently, I was quite popular. I'd even dated some male superheroes – including Bobby Drake, from the X-men, Robin, during some Marvel/DC crossover, and the teenaged version of Bucky Barnes during some time travel story line.

That weird moment when you find a comic book featuring an alternate version of yourself.

Ivy here.

I waited on the roof for Sitwell to arrive. I walked back and forth, studying the area below us.

I had turned my back on the door when it banged open.

I spun around.

Sitwell scrambled to his feet, moving backwards toward the edge of the roof. His gaze fixed on me. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping where I can."

Cap and Agent Romanoff both advanced on him.

"Are you trying to insinuate that you'll throw me off the roof?" asked Sitwell, addressing Cap. "Because I really don't think that's your style, Captain."

I allowed myself a small smile and walked forward toward them. "Of course he wouldn't. Do you really think _Captain America_ would throw a man off a roof?"

He relaxed slightly.

"Agent Romanoff or myself however… would."


	15. Chapter 15

Ivy here.

"What happened to me, Sitwell?" I growled, advancing toward him. He looked genuinely scared. Good. He should be, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or not. "What did they do, and what did I do? After lying to everyone, you owe us a little truth. No wonder you never took a bullet for S.H.I..E.L.D., like Garrett said. You were never loyal to them anyhow."

"I'm not saying anything."

"That's too bad." I shoved him, sending him over the edge of the roof.

He screamed on the way down. Like a little girl.

A moment later, Sitwell reappeared in Falcon's grip and was thrown onto the roof, the man with wings dropping down after him. Those are, for the record, an awesome pair of wings. I'd love to have some.

Sitwell was babbling even before we could move towards him. Everything about Zola's algorithm and Project Insight's plans for killing threats.

I'd known about everything, but hearing it from his mouth made me nauseous. "And what about me?" I asked. "What did they do?"

"They tried to wring information from you, of course. By any means necessary. You were _stubborn_. They beat you, threatened people you cared about… you took everything they gave you."

"What did I tell?"

"Absolutely _nothing_. Not a word. Not even after –" he cut himself off.

"After what?" I asked. "Pierce said I did told you some things. I couldn't imagine what would make me do that."

And then it hit me. It made sense it would have happened. Something that would be worse than physical torture. But I hadn't thought … I sank down onto my knees. "No no no no no. Please. No. No no no."

"Ivy, what happened?" asked Cap.

I took a second to collect my emotions. "Right now, it's not important. I don't know if I'm right, I don't have any proof as to what I think. Just… a thought." I prayed I was wrong.

I refused to answer questions as they led Sitwell down to the car. They eventually stopped pressing. They had more important things to deal with.

"Agent Romanoff?" I asked as we got in. "May I borrow your cell phone? It's important."

"HYDRA might track it."

"I don't think it's going to make a difference in this case."

"Um… okay."

I dialed Ariel's number. "Ariel?"

"IVY OH MY GOODNESS WHERE ARE YOU I HAVE SOMETHING COOL AND SLIGHTLY DISTURBING TO SHOW YOU ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"Hi, Ariel. Good to hear your voice. Look, when are you getting out of the hospital?"

"Right now."

I nearly dropped the phone. "Look, it's… I'm in DC. With Cap and Agent Romanoff."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll avoid creepy guys with mechanical arms and big guns."

"Sounds like a decent plan." I wanted to break down, crying, and tell her what I suspected might have happened. But now wasn't the time. Besides, I could be wrong. "Goodbye."

I handed the phone back to Agent Romanoff. "Thank you."

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I hope so." I slid into the back seat next to Sitwell. I don't doubt he's physically capable of taking me out under normal circumstances. However, right now, "normal circumstances" didn't quite apply. I was _ticked off_.

He seemed to realize this and slid away ever so slightly.

I didn't listen to half of what was going on or being said in the car. I wanted everything to stop. There's only so much a person can deal with. My limit had been reached on that rooftop. I'd known it was a possibility, but Sitwell had mentioned something that would be considered even worse than the physical abuse…

No one said anything to me. They seemed to realize that I _really_ did not want to talk to anyone at the moment.

If what I thought was true…

"Are you kidding?" demanded Sitwell's voice suddenly, from next to me. "That is a terrible, terrible idea."

A metal hand shot through the windshield, pulling the steering wheel out of the car.

We skidded to a stop. Sitwell was grabbed by the metal hands and thrown out the window.

The hand reached in again and closed around my throat, pulling me out.

For those of you who have never been pulled out of a car by your throat, allow me to leave you with no doubt in your mind. It's _not_ pleasant. It hurts. A lot.

My fingers shot up. His face was covered with a mask - such a shame, so many great targets there - but my fingers closed in his hair and _twisted._ His grip loosened but didn't release. I drove my knee into him.

That did it. He let go of my throat. I fell to the ground and took off at a run.

The angry yelling caused me to look up in time to see a man aiming a gun with me. I dodged behind a car in time to avoid being filled with lead.

"IVY!" yelled a voice. Miranda leaned out of the window of a car.

The Winter Soldier came around the corner.

My instincts kicked in instantly. I dodged again and broke into a run. I didn't know how she'd gotten here. I didn't care. "_Get out of here_! _Now_!"

I'm pretty sure that's what they were planning to do. I don't know, because the next moment the windshield exploded. Glass flew everywhere.

For a split second, my heart stopped. Then I broke into a run. Reaching the car, I yanked open the door. "Is everyone alive?" I demanded.

"No," said Miranda. "We were all shot dead, which would explain why we're answering your question."

Jack and Miranda were in the front seats, both still breathing. Bullet holes riddled the seats. Jack appeared fine – I guess he'd crouched down in time – but blood stained the front of Miranda's shirt and I saw two holes in her jacket – one in her shoulder, one closer to the heart.

I glanced over my shoulder. They were all too busy with other things at the moment to notice us – I hoped.

"Ivy?" said a voice from the back seat.

I ignored Edward and Sharon, although I was _very_ grateful to see them both alive. I climbed into the car and started inspecting Miranda, pressing my hands against the bleeding injuries.

My hands were removed, Sharon's replacing them. "Jack, drive."

A pair of arms grabbed me, pulling me backwards and out. "GO!" I yelled, sliding out of my attacker's grip.

The car pulled away.

I kicked out my opponent's knee, parrying his blows. I threw a hard punch, which connected with his jaw, knocking him onto the ground.


	16. Chapter 16

Hi, it's Jack again.

I hit the pedal and we took off. My mind raced. Not Miranda. Not Miranda.

Edward leaned forward toward the front, where Sharon was trying to figure out what to do. "Can you tell if the one in the chest is sucking air?"

"We're in a car speeding down a road in Washington DC, possibly pursued by angry people with big guns, I can barely hear myself think and don't have a clue what I'm looking for, no, I can't tell if the wound is sucking air!"

Edward crawled out beside her. They moved her into the backseat.

I did know a bit about first aid, but it wasn't much. It didn't extend to bullet wounds. I made a mental note to widen that knowledge should I get out of this alive.

A van suddenly pulled out beside us, trying to force us onto the side of the road.

"No, you don't," I muttered.

The van pulled over hard, sending us into the side of the bridge. We weren't going to be driving anywhere soon.

The van stopped and someone came running from the other side. I grabbed for the pepper spray.

"Wait!" said a vaguely familiar voice. "I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Agent Hill appeared next to the car.

"Miranda's been shot," said Edward from the back seat. "Two wounds, no exit wounds that I can find."

"She can't go to a hospital, HYDRA would find you in hours," said Agent Hill.

Between myself and Agent Hill, we moved Miranda out of the car to the back of the van. Edward helped Sharon to climb out and get into the back.

Someone moved over from the front seat. I didn't recognize them.

"Where did you pick up these two?" she asked, indicating Sharon and Edward.

"It's a long story."

"You know what to do," Agent Hill instructed the driver. "Do what he tells you," she ordered us, and ran off.

Ivy here.

Agent Romanoff was suddenly next to me. She grabbed me and jumped off the bridge. We landed under the bridge.

A burning car landed just behind us.

"Thanks," I said.

"Run," she ordered. "Hide somewhere."

As if on cue, the Winter Soldier landed behind us.

I've mentioned before than I'm not really all that fast. Believe me, when the _Winter Soldier_ is chasing after you, you'll be running pretty fast, regardless of what shape or condition you're in.

He took off after me – of course. I glanced over my shoulder to see him aim a huge gun at me.

Nothing to hide behind. No time to dodge.

Something landed around his neck, pulling him backwards. He dropped the gun and started clawing at his throat with one hand, reaching for a knife with another.

Ariel stood behind him, one hand holding a _noose_ which she was pulling shut around his neck.

I resisted the urge to cheer. I mean, come on, how many people are crazy enough to do something like that?

He slashed at the rope with a knife.

Ariel wisely let go of the end and ran.

I dropped down behind a car and started moving away. I glanced under the car to see a familiar pair of boots and nearly screamed. I covered my mouth with my hands.

The boots moved away from me, into the street.

I let out my breath and moved my hands away.

A hand closed around my arm. I screamed and went straight for my opponent's eyes.

"It's me!" said Ariel.

Ariel's usual high heels had been replaced with running shoes, making her look even smaller than usual. She'd tucked her long hair into a hat I'd knitted her – a ribbed green thing that I'm not particularly proud of. The green contrasted strongly against the red scratches on her face.

I dropped my hand at once. "Ariel, I –"

"Was right to attack me. If that had been him and you hadn't reacted, you might be dead by now. Come on." She took my arm again and started to lead me across the street.

She glanced over her shoulder and went rigid.

I spun around. Guess who it was? If you guessed the Winter Soldier, congratulations. You are correct.

I shoved Ariel as hard as I could. "GO!"

He stabbed toward me with a knife.

I reacted instinctively, dodging and striking. I didn't have a chance in a fight. And I doubted he'd fall for the same trick Ariel had used. A shame. I'd have to keep that trick in mind. It's one of those things that's just crazy enough to work once.

He slashed at me again. This time, the knife slashed into my shoulder. Suddenly, he turned, reaching his arm out to catch a discus sailing toward his head.

I jumped over the hood of the car behind me and ran into the street, dodging cars and debris.

I reached the other side of the street, dropped down behind a car, and glanced around.

Ariel dropped down next to me. "There you are. I've been running all over the place trying to find you. Come on, let's go."

I allowed her to pull me into a car. She threw a blanket over top of us both. As long as nothing happened to the car and no one looked too closely, we should be fine.

I'd miss Cap recognizing Bucky. I'd kind of wanted to see that. Whatever. I'd rather be alive.

"Ariel," I said softly. "HDYRA… they were the ones who took me, Ariel. And they tried to get information from me. I'm pretty much healed up, except for some pain in my leg. But that's not all they did."

"What else did they do?"

"They – they – I think they - " The horrible words stuck in my throat. As if, if I didn't say it, it wouldn't be true.

Ariel's phone rang. She moved and answered the call. "Whoever this is, you have some of the lousiest timing I've ever encountered."

I stifled a laugh.

She stiffened. Then she threw the blanket off, pulling me up, yanking the door open.

I looked up to see two men outside, with guns aimed directly at us.

I climbed out of the car, raising my hands above my head. My gaze searched the skyline. Come on, Jack Frost. Now would be a perfect time for you to arrive.

Ariel crawled out behind me.

Rumlow grinned down at me.

If I didn't have two big guns trained on me, I would have slapped him.

Had it been only me, I would have risked it and tried to do something. But not with Ariel there.

Suddenly, snow began to blow around us. A _huge_ snowstorm formed above us.

Rumlow glanced up, then at me, just staring.

"Just for the record, that's not me. I don't have snow powers," I said.

Jack appeared behind him and hit him in the head with his staff. The two other men spun around. Both were suddenly encased in ice.

"Hope I'm not late," said Jack Frost.

"You're just in time," I said. "This is Ariel. Ariel, Jack Frost."

Ariel blinked and stared at him, then raised her eyebrows. "So that's why you're not interested in Edward."

I elbowed her sharply. "Thank you for helping us, Jack."

In the distance, both Cap and the Winter Soldier had actually stopped fighting. They stared around at the snow.

"A little snow seems right for a movie called the Winter Soldier," I said.


	17. Chapter 17

Ivy here.

Jack chuckled. "Anywhere you need to go?" he asked.

A sound behind me caused me to turn around.

A blue police box had appeared behind us.

Clara Oswald stepped out. "Ah, there you are! You're hard to find." She handed me a wristwatch with a fancy face. "The Doctor's busy trying to repair something and he can't come out, sorry. He just says not to press any of the numbers on the watch unless it's an emergency. As in you're dying or about to die." She ducked some flying debris. "Why is it snowing?"

I pointed to Jack Frost, then realized she probably couldn't see him. "Jack Frost did it."

"Ah." She ran back to the phone box and re-entered.

The box disappeared.

"Who was that?" asked Ariel. "That phone box looked like those earrings Miranda always wears."

"Should we go?" asked Jack, before I could reply – which was probably best.

"Yeah."

It took us about half an hour to find the base.

Jack set us down in front of it.

"I guess we just go knock on the door?" I said.

"Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on you."

I walked up to the entrance and knocked.

The door opened.

"Miss Williams?" said the agent at the door. "Come with me, please. Captain Rogers and the others are on their way. Your friends are being treated right now. The director asked to see you at once."

I followed the agent inside, following him to where Director Fury was waiting for me.

"I said once that every time you showed up, something got destroyed," said the director. "I see you're see you're not about to break that streak."

I grimaced. "I'm not the one destroying things, Director. This is Ariel, by the way." Not that he probably didn't already know everything about her.

"Ariel Dalton. I've heard a lot about you lately. Apparently, you tried to choke the Winter Soldier using a noose. Where'd you learn how to throw a noose as a weapon?"

"I…"

"You don't need to explain it. It was from somewhere Ivy took you, wasn't it?"

She nodded.

"I had a feeling that something like this might happen when I heard you were going to be in that musical," he said to me. "You'd explained what you knew about how your powers worked. It was a fairly simple conclusion to come to when both of you started behaving strangely and you both were seen walking home in those dresses."

Ariel's expression of horror was actually quite funny.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about," said the Director. "We've been hiding some things from you, Miss Dalton, that we shouldn't have."

"You mean about the energy readings?" I asked. "And the DNA tests?"

He nodded and explained everything to her that she already knew – about the fact she was giving off some kind of weird energy and that she was related to "a high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent".

"That agent wouldn't be Hawkeye, by any chance?" asked Ariel when he was done.

You know, I never thought I'd see Nick Fury be visibly startled and surprised. I _am_ frequently wrong, though.

After that cleared up, I was left alone with the director.

"Ivy…" he said. "We found out where you were when you went missing."

"At a HYDRA base somewhere? That was my first guess."

"An agent managed to find video footage of the time you were there."

My stomach turned. "Have you… seen any of it?"

He nodded.

"May I see it? I need to know what happened, Director." There wouldn't be time to find out later. I had to know _now_. I knew what I'd see. But I had to see it. To confirm.

Someone set up a screen for us and it turned on. The blurry picture showed an empty cell.

"The agent cut things together so it wouldn't be too long," said the director. "This will give you the gist of it."

There was yelling and a sound of something hitting the ground, and the door to the cell opened.

A girl with red hair was thrown into the room, bruised and bleeding, then jumping onto her feet and clawing at the door, yelling at the top of her lungs for them to let her out.

I nearly laughed, seeing that. Definitely me.

The scene cut to later. The girl sitting on the floor, curled up in a ball. The door banged open and two guards burst in. Fists flew as they attacked her, yelling at her, demanding answers about what was going to happen. She fought back until they left.

Over and over again, the same thing happened. Eventually, slowly, she stopped fighting back, just letting them hit her.

I could feel the director's eyes boring into me as I watched the girl onscreen be repeatedly pummeled. I kept my eyes on the screen, trying to hold down my feelings - and my breakfast.

Then the video cut to me alone, curled up in a ball on the floor, sleeping. The door opened and the Winter Soldier entered. The camera cut suddenly and I was alone again in the room. My shirt had been torn and my leg lay at a funny angle. The camera angle didn't show my face. "What happened there?" I asked. It looked as if I had been… no no no. Please, no.

He opened his mouth to respond, but the shouts on screen caught my attention.

My onscreen self attacked a guard, wrapping her arms around his neck, squeezing until he stopped moving – unconscious, not dead, I hoped. She removed the guard's jack and gun. The camera cut to a hallway, me staggering down the hallway, wearing the guard's jacket, holding a gun to the back of a man in a white lab coat. The camera cut again, and we entered the room where they showed the Winter Soldier being questioned in the movie. The one with the memory erasing machine.

"Get the machine going." Her voice was hoarse and scratchy.

The girl lay down and put the thing on, keeping the gun aimed. The machine went on.

Screams filled my ears.

I covered them, staring at the ground, trying to block out the sound. Eventually the sound stopped. I removed my hands and looked up.

The girl was sitting up in the chair, surrounded by guards, Rumlow aiming a very large gun at her.

"I don't know what you did anymore, but I have a pretty good guess," the girl said. "And something tells me it would _really_ tick me off."

Why had I wanted my memory erased? Because it reset me back to ticked off and fighting back? Maybe because I'd have nothing to give away if I didn't remember what they wanted me to tell them. Or it would hide something that I wanted to forget for a while. Something like… "What did you edit out, Director?"

The Winter Soldier. So that was… This wasn't happening to me.

"What's going on?" demanded Ariel's voice. "What's wrong?"

I couldn't force myself to form the horrible words. Me… of all people... "_What's not wrong_?!" I screamed in her face. "My life story and secrets are going to be splattered all over the internet. You really think I'll ever have a normal life after that?"

"Ivy," said Edward's voice. "It's going to be okay."

I started laughing. Yes, actually laughing. "Edward… you don't have a _clue_ about _anything. _You don't even know where I was when I went missing, do you? Well, I'll tell you. HYDRA had me. And they… defiled me."

The room went absolutely silent at that little announcement.

"Ivy?" asked Ariel. "Are you… sure? Director?

"Is that what you edited out?" I demanded, practically screaming at him.

The director nodded.

"When I was there… that's what I wanted to forget…" Sobs tore from my throat and I sank to my knees, then threw up.

And it was to this scene that Captain America, the Black Widow, and the Falcon walked in.


	18. Chapter 18

Ariel here.

Black Widow, even with a bullet in her shoulder, still immediately dropped down next to Ivy, completely ignoring Director Fury. "Ivy, what's wrong?"

Ivy curled up on the floor, sobbing, isn't exactly a normal occurrence. This was probably the first time it's ever happened.

Ivy didn't respond for a moment. She straightened up slightly, red rimmed blue eyes fixed on her purity ring. She tore it off and, still sobbing, threw it at the wall, narrowly missing the director.

Ivy's sobs gradually ceased and she went limp on the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward retrieve her ring after she was helped out of the room.

We found Miranda in bed, awake. Jack sat next to her in a chair. I couldn't help but notice that their fingers were entwined. Miranda released his hand and sat up slightly as we came in.

"So, still in one piece. More or less. Wish I hadn't lost my books, though."

"Don't worry," said Edward. He stuffed a hand into his pocket and produced a copy of _The Tempest_. "I've been brushing up on it. I'm going to be in a performance of it, so I've been going over the script. Oh, and Ivy's here."

Miranda's eyes lit up. "Is she okay?"

"No," I said. "It's not my place to tell you what happened, but… she's really upset."

Ivy here.

The next thing I was really aware of was lying on a bed. I sat up. The room was empty.

I felt horrible. _Dirty_.

After a while, I climbed out of the bed and tried the door. It was unlocked. I pushed the door open a crack, then hear a voice.

" – run some tests to see if they did anything else to her," said Agent Hill's voice. "They'll take a few days to complete."

"We don't have that long," I said, swinging the door open.

They both jumped.

"Ivy, you shouldn't –" she began.

"I'm fine." Ticked off, but able to function as a human being. Albeit a human being with slightly impaired hearing for the moment. My hearing seemed to be returning, fortunately. "Project Insight isn't going up in a few days. It goes up sooner than that."

"Well… we already have results from a few we ran when we first brought you in," said Agent Hill.

"They dosed you with a kind of super soldier serum," said Cap. He looked disgusted. "A dose big enough to allow you to give you endurance to survive what they were doing, but not one that would stick for longer than a couple months. You don't look surprised."

"I'm not. My hearing from my damaged ear is returning. And I healed pretty fast from when I came into S.H.I.E.L.D. And I'm really past my ability to be surprised by anything anymore."

Miranda here.

Jack stayed with me the whole time. He worked on some gadget, I read _The Tempest_ and wished my copy of _Les Miserables_ hadn't been left in the car.

Jack shifted in his seat slightly. "Finished. What do you think?" He held it up. The little object was round and metallic, with a great big threatening button in the center. "It can short out circuits – in theory, anyhow. It would just hurt a person."

"I love how you can do that, I wish I could."

"Well, I wish I could make sense out of that," he said, indicating my book.

My eyes returned to my book, to Ferdinand's vows to Miranda. Who, yes, I was named after. Mom read it a lot when she was pregnant with me, apparently.

"You want to read out loud?"

I nodded. When we studied English stuff together, we always used to do that. I gave him the background on the scene and started reading.

Ivy here.

I met with the director, Cap, Agent Romanoff, and Falcon to discuss what was going on.

"I'd like to apologize for earlier," I said to the group. "My emotions got the better of me."

I listened to them talk and discuss their plan. All I cared about was how I was going to fit into this. I was going to do what I had to in order to make sure that HYDRA went down. It didn't matter how. "What do you want me to do?" I asked when I realized that my name hadn't come up yet. "I can help. I'm not a little girl, not anymore. Not the one you met. There's nothing you're protecting me from that I haven't seen or undergone here."

"Excuse me," said Falcon. "I feel like I missed something."

I took a deep breath. "When I was fifteen, I took a little walk in the woods with a friend. I met Hawkeye there. Except for that couldn't be possible. Because he didn't exist except in comic books. And lately, a new movie."

"What?"

"Remember how I joked about seeing the future? I wasn't entirely joking. I come from a universe where all of this is stories. Movies and comics, mostly."

Falcon glanced around at the others, as if expecting one of them to laugh and tell him what was really going on. No one did.

"Director Fury, please let me do what I can to help. I know what's going to happen and how to stay out of trouble. Besides, I've got super soldier serum stuff in me right now."

He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. "Okay. I want you to accompany Captain Rogers and Falcon and help them get control of the sound system. From there, you'll help Agent Hill. You will _not_ engage in any sort of combat or leave her side unless it's absolutely necessary. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Sir –" interjected Agent Hill, but he cut her off with a glance.

"I believe you'll find her a very useful assistant."

Ariel here.

So what were we expected to do while stuff happened? Absolutely nothing.

For Miranda, that made sense, since she was recovering from being shot twice. For Jack, it made sense since he wanted to be with her while she recovered. For Sharon and Edward, it made sense since both had a variety of injuries which made it difficult to move around a lot.

But I wanted to help. I was _ticked off_ about my throat getting sliced open. The difference between me and Ivy was that I didn't have any reasons that would convince them to let me.

Ivy's different than me. She's one of the toughest people I've ever met, has a ton of training in fighting, and can also kind of see the future. She also has an ability to make people feel sorry for her that I will never have. How does she do it?

There was no logical reason, aside from a personal vendetta, why I should be allowed to help. It could get me killed. Why did I want it so much? Because I hated feeling useless?

Edward and Sharon had been moved into the same room as Miranda. For the most part, all of us were left alone except when doctors came in.

"You just can't sit still, can you?" asked Miranda.

I shook my head.

"Ariel?"

I spun around to see Agent Romanoff standing behind us.

"I need to talk to you for a minute."

I followed her outside.

"I need to switch places with a councilwoman for our plan to work. And I need some help."

I somehow sense that Agent Romanoff saying this is a regular occurrence, so I felt flattered – and _very_ curious. "With what?"

"I need you to help me get her alone. I'd ask someone else, but everyone else here has things they need to do."

Finally. "What do you need me to do?"


	19. Chapter 19

Hey, it's Ariel again.

The airport was very crowded, and my height didn't make it very easy to see what was going on around me, especially since I didn't have my usual high heeled shoes.

"So what did you need, Agent Romanoff?" I asked over the little comm. in my ear.

"A disturbance, something to be a distraction while I do this." She had declined to tell me her plan, saying that, if something went wrong, I shouldn't know what it was.

"When do you want the distraction?"

"I'll tell you when. Just pretend you belong for now."

I bent over to tie my shoelace, which had come loose.

"Excuse me," said a male voice above me. "I need you to come with me."

I looked up. Crossbones stood above me.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I asked.

So that was who Sharon had hit with the hockey stick - you could still see the injury.

"No, I don't think you do." He pulled out a S.H.I.E.L.D. ID. "Brock Rumlow, Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division. I need you to come with me."

Whoever sent him after me probably wasn't aware of what I knew, because they would have known I wouldn't trust a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent I didn't know.

"I'd rather not," I replied. Agent Romanoff had wanted a disturbance – she was going to get one alright.

"I wasn't asking."

"And I wasn't asking to be left alone. I was telling you that I have no intention of coming with you. The blow to the head must have messed up your hearing. Sharon did a good job, didn't she?"

He opened his mouth, probably to say "what are you talking about", then closed it again.

"Any time now, Ariel," said Agent Romanoff. "Use his appearance to your advantage."

"Ivy didn't tell you _anything_, did she?" I asked. "Everything you did to her. She's been so worried the whole time because your boss lied. If she'd told you _anything_ worth knowing, you would have killed Captain Rogers months ago. I know what you people did to her. If she didn't tell you anything after _that_, then she wouldn't have told you anything. Pierce just told her that to make her scared and give himself an advantage, didn't he?"

Think about this for a moment – if you see a man and a girl and the girl starts screaming and trying to run, what do you assume?

I kicked him as hard as I could, and ran, screaming.

My plan worked _beautifully_. People swarmed him.

"Nice job, Ariel," said Agent Romanoff. "Meet our prearranged point, got it? Someone will be there soon to take you back to your family. It'll be a black car. The driver will ask you if you know what time it is."

"Yes, Agent Romanoff."

I headed out front and waited in front, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone else who might have been sent after us.

I waited for about five minutes before a black car pulled up, with the window on my side rolled down. The door on that side was slightly open.

I leaned over slightly to see who it was.

Something stabbed the back of my neck and I was shoved into the car just before everything went black.

Ivy here.

They told me that they were sending Ariel home. They didn't mention the little thing she was doing first. I was oblivious of it until a few days later.

While Cap went and got a uniform from the Smithsonian, I got outfitted in a S.H.I.E.L.D uniform. It wasn't exactly a superhero costume, but it's the closest I'll ever wear to one.

As we sat near the entrance, Agent Hill kept glancing at me as if she wanted to say something, then looking away again.

"Ivy," she said suddenly. "There's something –" she stopped herself. "Just be careful."

"Believe me, I have no intention of doing anything else."

Ariel here.

I woke up lying on something hard with a feeling that whatever happened next was going to _suck_.

I opened my eyes, only for a blinding light to make me close them.

I turned my head to the side before trying that again.

My wrist was strapped down to the table which I was lying on. I gave it an experimental pull. No chance of being able to somehow yank my arm away.

Everything in me wanted to scream and start trying to break away. A tiny, rational part of my mind stopped me, though. Instead, I glanced around.

The room was absolutely empty except for the table I was strapped to.

I didn't know what they wanted to do, and there didn't seem to be a logical reason to do so.

Could the straps be cut through?

I still had a hair clip in my hair – it has a plastic flower with a _very_ sharp ridge on it. My mom had actually cut her fingers on it picking it up once. The only reason I ever wear it is because with Ivy around, you never know when you're going to need a weapon on hand.

The only problem was getting it out of my hair and working it back and forth.

I started rubbing the side of my head with the clip on it against the table. It came out. Using my head, I slid it close enough for my fingers to grab it and start cutting.

It's easier than it sounds, believe me. Most of the cuts actually ended up in my wrist, but eventually I managed to cut one wrist free.

Where were they?

Whatever, don't question a good thing.

I undid the restraints on my other wrist, then my ankles, and rolled off the table. The cement floor was cold under my bare feet.

At that exact moment, the door opened.

"I will admit," said Alexander Pierce. "I was not expecting you to actually pull that off. Your wrists are bleeding, by the way."

"Yeah, I started noticing that after the thing cut me for the fortieth time."

"I'd like to talk to you."

"Funny, I've been having the same thought since as your assassin tried to kill me." I kept the hair clip in my hand. "Ivy, by the way, is starting to put things together as far as what happened to her went. If you think she'll let you win after you had done to her, you are sadly mistaken."

"Even if it breaks her rule?"

"She's got a bit of an impulsive streak and Ivy's reasoning can be a little… incomprehensible to those who aren't completely familiar with it." During my trip to 19th century France with her, her reasoning had caused some tension. Okay, a lot of tension.

"We have your family and your friends and their families on our first kill list. If you don't tell us willingly, we'll send people to kill them and find some way to make you tell us."

"By the time you managed to get anyone near enough to them, Project Insight will already be up. We all contacted our families and told them to run. Mine is probably half way around the world by now, and the others are probably equally spread out. I don't doubt you could find them, but I don't think you could before Project Insight goes up." I lashed out with the hair clip, hitting him in the face, then sprinted past him.

The guard grabbed my hair. I stomped on his instep and elbowed him. I grabbed the gun from his hands and aimed it at Pierce, who stood in the doorway.


	20. Chapter 20

Ariel here again.

"You can't shoot me," said Pierce. "You need me later."

I shrugged. "The damage to the timeline wouldn't be beyond repair."

"If you fire that, you'll kill a real, living human being."

"You're about to kill twenty million people who've done nothing wrong except exist. I wouldn't talk."

The guard reached for his radio.

I turned and aimed at him. "Don't even think about it." I took a step backward. "I'm a _very_ good shot."

"Listen to her," said Pierce. "Don't call anyone down."

My heart thudded. _Could_ I actually do this? I couldn't just keep pointing it and say I would pull the trigger. There's no point in that. It just makes your look stupid. I decided to try stalling. "This is why you don't harass people who don't harass you," I said, aiming it back at Pierce.

"You interrupted the Winter Soldier's mission."

"_He _attacked _me_. And besides, he wouldn't have found any clues about the director. I changed nothing. HYDRA won't win," I said. "It _can't_ win."

I turned and broke into a run.

There's a couple advantages to being tiny. One of which is that you can fit into places the average person can't. Like air vents.

Now, no matter what you've seen on TV, if you try to crawl through air vents, you'll probably find that they get smaller and that you get stuck. Or that you cause a bunch of noise and people find you. Or that they can't support the weight of a human being. I speak from experience on all three. Do _not_ ask why.

But seeing as I didn't have any better ideas and they were probably going to have people after me any second, it seemed like my best option. Besides, I'm shorter and lighter than the average person.

I yanked the cover off of an air duct and set it down on the floor. I pulled myself up and in, still clutching the gun.

Footsteps pounded the floor. "Find her!" yelled a voice.

Then silence. I could see no one.

I started to crawl as quietly as possible. It was pretty much pitch black, except for occasional light when I reached a vent, and _really_ dirty. I was very glad I'd chosen against wearing that skirt Mom had suggested this morning.

I stopped at the next vent and checked my surroundings.

The room was empty and I could faintly heard footsteps running away down the corridor.

I kept crawling.

I really, really hoped they didn't have some kind of traps in the air vents. That would be a bit of a problem.

"Attention all SHIELD agents, this is Steve Rogers."

The entire building went absolutely silent.

"You've heard a lot about me in the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. STRIKE and Insight crews are HYDRA as well. We don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building, they could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. The price of freedom is high, always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."

I would have clapped if I wasn't afraid of drawing attention to myself.

And then a thought occurred to me. I'd told Pierce that the timeline damage wouldn't be beyond repair if he died.

He knew he was going to die.

Whoops.

Ivy here.

You know how I was supposed to stay in one place?

Well, I suddenly remembered that group of pilots who tried to help Cap and all got killed.

"I'll be back in a minute!" I said, and ran out.

Agent Hill yelled after me, but I was already gone.

Somehow, I had stop them. Do something.

I flew through the halls, past and through people who were fighting, avoiding the flying fists and bullets. No one tried to stop me, probably because I wasn't actively engaging in fights with anyone.

I sprinted outside, shouting.

Someone in a black uniform jumped out and aimed a gun at me.

I dropped behind a huge crate and kept moving.

And that was when everything blew up.

You know how it was the Winter Soldier took out the pilots? Yeah. I forgot about that.

How could I forget, you ask? I've got about a million things to remember at once, all of them important. Believe me, it's not impossible to forget stuff like that. Besides, I'd gone through that mind wipe machine. That had, at the very least, made my memories of everything a little unstable.

Let me ask you something – if a brainwashed assassin who basically had no other purpose in life than to kill people was after you, what would you do?

Would you: a) Run away, realizing that your original plan is doomed and you'd better get out of there or you'd get killed too?

b) Try to get help?

c) Try to deal with it yourself?

Any of you even remotely familiar with my stories will probably be right.

Yes, I attacked the Winter Soldier.

Yes, you may all think I'm an idiot. And you'd be absolutely right. It's not as if I tried to do something smart and at least _attempt_ to sneak up on him. Or use some kind of distance weapon. Nope, I just charged ahead, yelling.

I'm not sure whether it was surprise or shock at just how idiotic my move had been, but he paused for a moment before firing his gun at me.

Good thing, too, because otherwise I wouldn't be narrating to you right now. I'd be about six feet under the ground – if my body hadn't been blown into too many pieces to collect.

Whatever the reason he didn't shoot immediately, I took advantage of it.

I couldn't risk actually severely hurting him – not that I'd be capable of it anyhow – and kicked him where it hurts a guy most.

I think all the blows to the head are starting to get to me. I really do.

He responded by grabbing my throat and squeezing it.

I clawed at his fingers, managing to pry them loose – yay for super soldier serum! – and punched him in the face. His nose snapped. The pilots seemed to be scattering, thank God. At least _something_ good had come out of me being an idiot.

A fist connected with my face and I fell on the ground, dazed. I was pulled to my feet and shoved forward. Instinctively, I kicked and clawed at him. He responded by striking me in the head, knocking me out.


	21. Chapter 21

Ariel here.

So what was my bright idea for fixing the damage I might not even have inflicted? I actually went up to try to watch and make sure that everything went as it should. I need my head checked… then again, if you've heard my last story, you probably already have a really low opinion of my intelligence and reasoning capability.

It took a while to work my way up to the top floor. A while that involved a lot of stairs. Luckily, a lot of security stuff was down, what with the whole "S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA both going after each other" thing. Otherwise, I never would have been able to get up so far.

The elevator was the biggest problem. The thing only works if you work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and have clearance and stuff like that.

I _don't_ work for them, and don't intend to any time soon. It would intrude on my growing career in musical theater – and on screen, actually. A TV show that's filming in New York has offered me a role – not an every episode deal, but appearing occasionally throughout the season. Okay, I'll stop talking about that and get back to the story.

My first thought was to try to impersonate someone's voice – but that probably wouldn't work.

I briefly considered going back.

No. We had a serious problem here. I was going to fix it. That's what Ivy would do, and what I was going to do. As soon as I could get up there.

The elevator door opened.

Brock Rumlow stared at me in disbelief. "How'd you get out?"

"It involved a gun, a lot of bluffing, and air vents." I aimed my weapon at him.

"As if you would," he said with a smirk.

"You have no idea what I'd do if I had to. I impaled a man's foot with my shoe once." If only I'd impaled Ward's other foot while I was at it.

He stepped forward. "You won't. Your hands are shaking. You've never pointed a gun at anyone in your life, have you?"

I kept well out of reach. "You really don't think so?"

"No. You're with that Ivy girl. She'd never kill anyone. Lost an escape opportunity because she didn't have the guts to kill the guard instead of knocking him out."

The sheer _nerve_ he had in talking about Ivy like that nearly made me attack him. But I kept the weapon steady. "It doesn't take guts to kill a person. It takes guts not to." I jerked to the side and pressed the button that would close the elevator door, then fired the gun through the door.

The bullet missed Rumlow, just barely, but it had the desired effect – he hesitated a moment.

I kept the gun aimed as the door closed. That should keep him out while I figured out what to do.

I didn't know what to do. You can't threaten or sweet talk or reason with technology – all of which are tactics which you can use with human beings.

I almost punched the thing that you give instructions to – and then it hit me. _Jack_. I might not be any good with technology, but Jack has a genius IQ and is _very_ good with it.

I still had my phone. I don't know why. Maybe they didn't search me all that well. I dialed Jack's number, praying that there was nothing to block it.

"_Ariel_?" said Jack's voice a minute later.

I explained the situation to him. "I'm grasping at straws here. I need some help."

"I don't know if I could do anything if I was _there_, let alone explaining it to someone over the phone who has no tools. Just a minute, I'll get someone to help."

"Someone who will tell me not to go up? Jack, I made the mistake. I need to fix it."

"Are you _crazy_? Look, let Agent Romanoff and Director Fury handle it. We can get them the information and they can make sure everything works."

"And they could also wreck havoc with everything without realizing it or by accident. Jack, if you don't help me, I'll make my way up through the elevator shaft. Which means climbing probably at least forty stories, probably all filled with traps. Which will it be?"

I could sense Jack glaring at me over the phone. "Fine. Don't blame me if you get killed or something." He had me carefully remove the front of the thing, leaving me with a bunch of wires and buttons. One wrong move and I could ruin the entire thing – set off a trap or make something explode.

"Okay, take the wire that you said was sticking out slightly from all the others and pull it out. Carefully, _do not_ damage it."

I pulled it out carefully.

"Okay," said Jack. "Now, pull out the wire you said had something red on it, now put them in the opposite holes."

I obeyed.

"Okay, now try giving it a command."

I did so, asking it to go up a level.

To my shock, it actually did.

"Okay, Jack, it seems to be working. Thanks. I owe you big time."

"Believe me, if you get out of this alive, you owe me _more_ than big time."

I sent the elevator to the top of the building.

Ivy here.

I woke up to my feet dragging along a smooth surface. I twisted hard. My hands connected with a cold floor. Pain shot up my wrists, but I ignored it, scrambling to my feet.

A hand grabbed my hair and jerked hard, sending me backwards. My head hit a metal bar – a railing. Something tugged at my wrist. I wasn't quite with it, otherwise I probably would have tried to keep him from cuffing my wrist to the railing.

I pulled against the restraints and glared at the Winter Soldier. I knew what he'd done to me in that cell, months ago. But, somehow, I didn't blame him. It would be like blaming a gun for killing someone – the gun wasn't responsible. The person who fired it was.

"Ivy!" yelled a male voice.

"Cap?" I stood up and turned toward him. "It's a trap!"

He stopped.

"I'm fine. Carry out your mission."

"People are going die, Buck," said Cap. "I can't let that happen. Please, don't make me do this."

With their attention off me, I turned my attention to the handcuffs, ignoring the gunshots and sounds of fighting. I didn't have anything that could be used to pick the lock. I remembered the _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._ episode where Agent May dislocated her wrist in order to slip her hand out. Hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary. My actually plan wasn't much better. I actually_ broke_ them. Courtesy of the serum. I broke part of the railing, too. Whoops. Not like they'd need it anymore, though.

That serum didn't seem to be wearing off yet. I couldn't complain about the effects, no matter how it had gotten into my system.

Cap and the Winter Soldier were down below me, fighting.

I sent up a little prayer. _Dear God, please just let me survive falling out of here when the time comes. Please. Please. Please. Or better yet, let me somehow get out before it falls._

Ariel here.

Have you ever listened to an argument from behind a closed door? You can feel the tension even without being part of it. That's how it was for me. Kind of. Except for that I knew what was going to happen – and was afraid it might not happen.

"Are you ready? For the world to see you as you really are?" Pierce asked Agent Romanoff.

"Are you?"

"Are you ready to see the girl exposed? See her life ruined? There's no one to protect her after this."

"I trained her to take care of herself." There was a note of… was that pride? in her voice. "And she's not alone."

I waited, listening to the ensuing events. In hindsight, I probably should have kept a better lookout on everything behind me.

Wow. It's like we're all in some really bad fanfiction or something, and the writer can't figure out how to put us where she wants us so she makes us stupid enough to do this stuff.


	22. Chapter 22

Jack here.

And what were we doing in the meantime? Believe me, we had our own problems without being at the Triskelion.

Miranda started taking a turn for the worse when Ivy left. As always, she'd put on a brave face for Ivy while she was there. But her condition started worsening and we started getting really worried.

One of the doctors kept saying "Don't worry, it's going to be okay" to us. Is it just me, or is it really irritating when people do that when they obviously don't know themselves?

In the middle of all this, a man in a white coat grabbed my elbow.

"Can I talk to you for minute please?"

I nodded and left the room with him.

He pulled off the white coat. "How much do you want to help her?"

"I'd do anything," I said.

"Good. Tell us what's going to happen at the Triskelion. If you do, we might be able to bring her out of it."

Miranda would die first. I knew that. But I didn't think I could let her die. She was my best friend… and maybe more.

Ivy would be so mad if she knew I did this. But I don't care.

I lied through my teeth about the whole thing. You would not _believe_ the stuff I came up with to tell that HYDRA agent. There was stuff about Captain America turning Project Insight on Avengers Tower and about Director Fury defecting to HYDRA in there, I think. I don't really remember, I was making it up as I went along.

I learned how to keep a straight face playing games with Miranda – she tells you nothing, verbally or with her expressions, then demolishes you. It's frustrating, to say the least. She beats me at chess with annoying frequency.

Miranda here, inserting a comment – he's never won a single game against me. Of anything, not just chess.

"Thank you," said the man. "Your friend Ivy was responsible for the demise of several important S.H.I.E.L.D. agents – it seems only right that a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent should be responsible for the demise of some people important to her."

"What?"

"You think HYDRA's the only one who wants her suffering or dead? Anyone who knows what a monster that girl is wants her gone."

"Yes, except for that the Avengers know her. And they seem to want her alive. So if they find out, you're dead meat."

"It's not as if any of you will live to tell."

"I think we will," I said. "Look behind you."

The man turned around.

I've never struck a man so hard in my life as I did in that moment. He fell backwards to the ground.

I grabbed his shirt collar. "You fix Miranda now, and I will turn you in. Believe me, anything that Director Fury does to you will be _nothing_ compared to what I'm going to do to you if you don't."

A gun went off behind me.

Guns aren't all that easy to aim, especially if you're not familiar with them.

I was _really_ lucky that the other doctor, who fired it, didn't have the greatest aim.

I've haven't been in many fights. Like Ivy, I have a black belt in karate – I just don't really get into many situations where I need to use it. I don't go looking for trouble. But when you and someone you care about are being threatened, you don't necessarily need experience to take them out.

I disarmed the guy with the gun and took out his leg with a hard stomp, then kicked him in the stomach.

The other guy tried to grab me around the throat from behind. I took him down, hitting the other guy with him in the process.

Neither seemed to want to get up from the positions they were in.

"Anyone else?" I said.

I took the gun from the floor. "Thank you," I said. "Now, what did you do to Miranda?"

"Poison," said the first guy. "There's no antidote that we know of. She's dying. She has about six hours."

I don't react well to announcements like that. I kicked the guy in the face.

I walked back to the room.

Miranda lay on the bed, _very_ pale and looking very much like she was dying.

"What happened out there?" asked Sharon.

"Guys. We have a real problem on our hands." I explained what had happened.

"Edward, go get someone to help," I ordered. There must be guards or something around here."

I sat down next to Miranda. "You're going to be okay. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Just… tell Ivy that it wasn't her fault. _Please_ don't tell her why they did it. They were working for HYDRA and we knew too much. But please, not the whole truth. Not that it was directly because of her."

I don't like lying. But I couldn't deny that to Miranda. Some things, people really don't need to know. Ivy doesn't need more to make her feel like a horrible person.

"Okay. But we're not giving up on you just yet."

Edward came back in. "Place is _completely_ empty. No one anywhere."

"Okay, then we're going to a hospital in DC." I started disconnecting Miranda from everything.

By the way, don't do that. Ever. If you don't know how to do it, you could hurt the person, who's connected to those things for a reason – the reason possibly being that it's keeping you alive.

In this case, however, some of the things she was being given could have been poisoned. I couldn't take that risk, and we had to get out.

"I can't really walk right now," said Sharon. "And we probably shouldn't stay here."

"No," I agreed. "I wish we had that car."

"Why don't you call for help? You have your cell phone," said Edward.

"I can't direct them to come here. I'm not sure where we are. Now we have to _go_."

Ariel here.

So we were all pretty busy.

I waited outside the room, listening to everything going on. The director arrived and they released the information.

Everything going out over the internet. All Ivy's secrets. Every single detail that we'd tried to keep secret. Poor Ivy. She told me later that she'd asked them about having the information filtered - about allowing her to keep her secrets - but they couldn't do that.

A hand sudden grabbed the back of my collar, shoving me forward into the room.

"You're not going anywhere," said Pierce's voice from in front of me.

Oh, great.


	23. Chapter 23

Ariel here.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Agent Romanoff.

"Yes, how did you get out?" said Pierce.

"Through the air vents. Seriously, you have _big_ air vents here."

With that, I fired the gun in my hand into the floor.

The guy who had me let go of me, pulling away.

Agent Romanoff dealt with him.

"Ivy found out about what you did," I growled, aiming the gun at Pierce. "Be glad it's me here instead of her. She's so upset I'm not sure if she could resist attacking you, interference policy or not."

"She already guessed everything by the time she talked to me about it."

"No, she figured out the last bit earlier today. Or was it yesterday? I really can't remember. But she knows what you had the Winter Soldier do. Did you bring him out_ just_ to do that? Just because you knew it would make it worse because he was brainwashed?"

"I didn't tell them to do that. If I had known, I wouldn't have permitted it. I only found out afterwards."

I believed him. "Why didn't you kill us all while you had the chance? We were obvious threats."

"Obvious threats who, if the past is any indication, wouldn't do anything. Ivy had made her intentions _very_ clear over the last few years. Despite what you might think, I don't like killing people."

He suddenly activated the badges and killed the two council members. Talk about sending conflicting messages...

Before he could say another word, I lunged, knocked the phone out of his hand and as far away as possible.

Director Fury fired at him. And that was the end of that.

Edward here.

Jack carried Miranda ahead of me and Sharon.

"I'm okay," said Sharon. "You go ahead, if you have to. Don't let me slow you up."

"We need Edward because he's the only person here who knows _anything_ about first aid of any kind. And he's helping you."

"Then leave me. I can handle myself fine."

"No," all three of us said at once.

I helped Sharon to limp faster.

"You're going to be okay," promised Jack to Miranda. "Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I have every intention of keeping it."

"Anything prepared for when we get to the hospital?" asked Sharon. "What we're going to tell them."

"The truth. Most of it."

We reached a main road.

A car suddenly pulled up in front of us.

"Get in," said a voice I vaguely recognized from somewhere.

It was Tony Stark in the car.

Sharon let out a little squeaking sound.

Jack started explaining the situation, leaving out all of the things that Mr. Stark shouldn't necessarily know about – like Director Fury being alive and stuff – as they laid Miranda out in the back seat.

"Poison _and_ two bullet wounds," said Mr. Stark. "She should be dead right now. Do you know how they gave it to her?"

Jack shook his head. "Possibly through one of the things she was hooked up to, but I can't be sure. They said there was no antidote."

"Yeah, well they also said that I couldn't escape from the Ten Rings. Don't worry. She's going to be fine."

We were loaded into the back along with Miranda.

I hadn't known Jack for a long time, but I'd _never_ seen him look so…murderous, for lack of a better word. Like if he could beat up the people responsible for this again, he would.

"You're going to be okay," he said over and over to Miranda.

She laughed. "Not if you keep cutting off the circulation to my hand like that, I won't." Her voice was hoarse.

He loosened his grip on her hand ever so slightly.

Ivy here.

It _wasn't_ the end of that for me, though.

Cap took out the Winter Soldier and headed back up.

Gunshots rang out.

I winced at each one, but did nothing – I couldn't do anything, really. Even if I had a gun, my aim's not good, and I couldn't kill Bucky. I helped Cap up when he got within my reach. He stumbled forward.

The Winter Soldier fired again. The bullet struck him in the back.

Something struck me in the back.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be shot in the back? Let me satisfy your curiosity. It _sucks_. I staggered forward and dropped to the floor.

Cap struggled to get up and replace the drive.

I grabbed it out of his hand and pressed it down. "That's done," I said. "Ow… that's going to hurt tomorrow. If I live to see tomorrow. But that's okay though. If I don't. If I could have picked any way to go, it would have been like this. Not specifically this, but doing something right…"

The helicarrier shook.

I nearly closed my eyes and just lay still on the floor. Simply going down with the helicarrier would be so easy, far easier than what would happen if I lived.

I forced my eyes open. "You don't get to do that," I told myself. I stood up, despite how injured I was, and started to climb toward the bottom of the helicarrier. There was no safe way off of this unless Jack Frost showed up – and I couldn't count on that.

I let myself down near the Winter Soldier, who was pinned beneath some of the collapsed structural supports.

"Hey," I said. What else do you say? I started to lift the structural support.

Super soldier serum or no, I couldn't have done it without Cap's help. He'd been shot three times, and he still could lift that thing by himself. Wow.

The Winter Soldier pulled himself out. He eyed me for a moment, as if appraising whether or not I was still a threat.

Considering that I was bleeding out from a bullet wound to my back, not really.

He seemed to agree with me on that and attacked Cap, yelling at him, ignoring me.

I stared down at the water, a little _too_ far below us for my tastes. "Come on, Jack", I muttered. "Any time now."

The Winter Soldier was in the middle of beating Cap to a pulp. I've never felt so nauseous in my life as in that moment.

"You're my mission!" he yelled at Cap.

"Then finish it. Because I'm with you to the end of the line."

Bucky hesitated.

I stepped forward. "Listen to him," I said.

The glass gave way under my feet and I fell toward the water.


	24. Chapter 24

Ivy here.

The only reason I survived that fall was the serum.

Captain Rogers had asthma and wasn't very strong, and look what it did to him. I'm stronger and much healthier than he was at the time. I don't have super strength or anything, but it made me a _lot_ more durable than I would have been otherwise. I'm really going to miss it when it's gone.

For a few, horrible seconds, I plunged toward the water.

Then I hit it and everything went black.

I woke up a few seconds later as I sunk down toward the bottom.

Drowning is not a nice way to go. It's not peaceful. You're trying to breathe and you can't, you just keep gasping mouthfuls of water, if your body can do even that.

I forced my arms to move, swimming upward.

I broke the surface gasping for air and coughing up water at the same time – which, let me tell you, is an _interesting_ experience. My whole body hurt, and I wanted to just give up and float.

A hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward through the water.

I instinctively clawed at the hand.

Another hand grabbed my other wrist. It was Bucky, treading water and trying to keep me from scratching him.

"You want my help or not?" he asked.

All the fight – and energy – went out of me.

He towed me to shore and rolled me onto my side. I coughed up the rest of the water and just lay there in the sand next to Cap.

Another successful story completed for me. Whoopee. Yay.

And then I passed out.

I woke up again slowly, sitting in a chair.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring around at an empty room with cement walls and floor.

"They thought you were important."

I turned my head to see Bucky standing a few yards away. "Important?" I asked. "I wish."

"What's your name?"

"Ivy. Ivy Williams."

"I know you."

"Yeah. We'd met before today."

"When?"

"That's just the problem. I don't remember." Why _didn't_ I remember was why I didn't remember all of it. I didn't remember what had happened after the mind wipe – why? "I just know that we've met."

"They used it on you too?"

"I don't remember." I couldn't tell him I knew what he'd done to me. Not yet. Maybe never. No one who didn't have to know should know.

"Why did they think you were important?"

"It's… extremely complicated. I have a rather special ability that allows me to see the future, in a way."

He grabbed my wrist and twisted it, hard, forcing me out of the chair and onto the floor.

I yelled in pain.

"Tell the truth!"

"I _am_ telling the truth!"

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Not really, but it's the truth. Why do you think I was important? Because of my incredible skill at fighting?" Which really isn't all that incredible. "No. Because I knew things they wanted to know."

He let go of my wrist.

"I can't help you," I said. "Believe me, I want to help you. But there are some things you can't take a short cut on. I'm sorry."

A hair twisted in my hair. My head connected with the wall.

I sank down to the floor. "Bucky, _stop_!" I screamed.

"Don't call me that!"

I jumped up and _ran_ for the door. He was not stable right now and might kill me if I didn't tell him what he wanted. I doubted he was quite in the mood for my "no interference policy" speech at the moment.

He grabbed my wrist, yanking me backwards toward him. I twisted my wrist free and grabbed the door handle. The door was locked.

Bucky wrapped his metal arm around me, pinning my arms against my sides and pulling me back into the room.

I slammed my head into his face and pulled away.

I actually broke the door handle this time, wrenching it off – a combination of serum, a weak door, and my own terror. Mostly the weak door part.

I sprinted down a flight of steps, ignoring my surroundings and screaming.

I tore down an alley and into a busy street – luckily, no cars hit me.

I kept running even after I knew I'd lost him. Eventually, though I grew tired and stopped in an alley. The alley I'd woken up in a few months ago. So much had changed since then.

A faint memory stirred in the back of my mind. A metal fist slamming into my face, knocking me against the wall of the building. Me screaming, crying. Blood everywhere.

Slowly, I began to piece together the whole story.

I'd been taken from my home a few months ago and brought to a HYDRA facility, where they'd tortured me for information. My resistance had been so strong that they'd actually dosed me with super soldier serum of a sort so they could go harder and still not kill me. That failing, they had brought in the Winter Soldier to… well, you know what happened.

I'd been so upset that I'd hooked myself into the mind wipe machine in order to get rid of the memory. It hadn't entirely worked, I don't think – possibly because my mind wasn't in a particularly malleable state like Bucky's. I'd managed to maintain some of my memory. Somehow, I'd escaped, then called Miranda to reassure everyone that I was alive.

Unfortunately, they'd sent the Winter Soldier to kill me. He must not have known about the enhancements, that was the only reason I was alive. The trauma and the blows to the head, likely plus the state of my memory after the mind wipe machine, had damaged my memory and repressed everything that had happened.

That's my best guess.

What a mess. What a horrible, pointless mess.


	25. Chapter 25

Ivy here.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I twisted around, ready to defend myself. "Tony?" I breathed.

"Hi. Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure yet."

I followed him around the corner to his car.

"What happened?" asked Tony as I got in.

I couldn't tell him that Bucky was involved. "I… wandered around for a while. Didn't know what to do." _After_ I escaped.

He pulled away into the street. "You should be dead by now. Falling off that helicarrier, getting beaten up the way you have been."

"Yeah. Probably."

I eventually fell asleep in the back, feeling safe for the first time in a long time.

I woke up to a door hinge squeaking.

I sat upright. I was in a strange room, lying on a bed.

"Sorry!" said Ariel.

"What's going on? Where am I?" I asked.

"You're at one of Mr. Stark's houses. He had one a few hours away from Washington. We're all here. Everyone's alive."

I sighed with relief and lay back down. "Did you ever find out if you got that part?"

"Yeah. I talked to Mom and Dad on the phone. I auditioned for a bunch of stuff, and I got offered a role. Funny, how important that seemed at the time. I mean, it still is, but… things feel different now." She rubbed her throat. "I will be playing Liesl in a production of _Sound of Music_ in a few months."

"Congratulations. I knew you'd get it."

"You apparently knew better than I did."

Everyone came into my room over the next few hours and filled me in on the details – about how there had been HYDRA agents and they'd had to leave the hideout suddenly. Even Pepper came in and asked me how I was doing.

Tony came in last.

"How did you know where we were?" I asked.

"I heard Capsicle got himself arrested in DC. Figured you weren't far away."

"I could have been anywhere."

"Luck."

I sensed he was lying and raised my eyebrows at him. "I suppose that's also how you found Ariel and the others?"

"I put tracking devices in those shrapnel earrings. Figured if you ever got in trouble and you had them, I could follow. I just wish you'd been wearing them when you went missing."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised. And I was too tired to be angry. "Thanks. I guess you've probably got people banging down the door wanting to know about me, now everything's out?"

He nodded. "Happy and Pepper scared off six reporters off just this morning. It could have been worse, though. Your name and address weren't in the files, and only a few pictures, from when you were younger. You look a bit different now. Your friends weren't mentioned anywhere. People know you exist, but they don't necessarily know who you are."

Ariel's secret was still a secret. Which meant Agent Barton probably didn't know.

"I wish you could meet your brother," I said one afternoon while she was visiting with me.

She nodded. "But it's probably better this way. Less dangerous. For everyone. Do you even know what happened?"

I shook my head. "I asked the Doctor. He said he'd 'look into it'. I haven't heard back from him since."

As if on cue, the door swung open.

The Doctor. In a bowtie and a Stetson.

"Ivy, there you are! You have no idea how hard it is to get past the security here – well, it actually _isn't_ that hard if you're a Time Lord, but you know what I mean. And this is Ariel? Perfect! I have news for you!"

Ariel stared at him. "This is the Doctor?"

"Yeah."

"Well, here's the thing. You remember, you met Ivy in Kindergarten? Your first day?"

Ariel nodded.

"Well, that was Ivy's first day of contact with anything that was from outside of this universe. The energy reacted badly and erased some of what made you important – your relationship to Hawkeye."

"Why didn't it erase it completely?"

"Because it was too big of a fact to erase completely. That's why those comics exist – you _are_ in a few Marvel comics from different universes. And why your mitochrondrial DNA tests show it up."

"Comics?" I asked.

"Mito what?" Ariel just stared at him. Science had never been her strong point – especially biology.

"Mitochondrial DNA. The mitochondria are organelles which make energy. In you humans, anyhow. Your biology is absolutely fascinating! Anyhow, you inherit the DNA in those from your mother. You both had the same mother, hence, the same DNA."

"Okay…"

"Anyhow, the reaction destroyed it, mostly, but not completely. Which is why you still know."

"Thank you," said Ariel. "What are the odds? The sister of Hawkeye goes to Kindergarten with the universe traveler…"

"It's not chance. Ivy's body gives off energy from between dimensions. It draws activity from those dimensions toward her. Hence, why she managed to crawl to Captain America's apartment in particular, why the Tesseract just happened to fall out of a plane while she was nearby, that sort of thing."

"Thanks."

"Well, I've got to go before anyone sees me. But Ivy? I'm going to see you very soon. And I'd like to say that I'm sorry. In advance."

Before either of us could say a word, he ran out the door.

That was yesterday. Today was full of phone calls and explanations – most of which, admittedly, left out little details. We haven't reached my parents yet, but I did send them out of town, so that's no surprise.

We also decided to make this recording. Before I go home and face everything. Miranda's going to send it off as soon as I wrap this up. So… yeah.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

**Don't worry, it's not over yet? There's still plenty of discoveries and events going to happen yet...**


	26. Chapter 26

Ivy here.

I'm recording this separately from everyone else - and later - and sending it to the person who types them out. I got the email address off Miranda months ago, and it's best if she doesn't know about all this.

If you've ever been away for a while, you know how good it is to get back home.

I was greeted at the door by my mother.

The yelling, I expected.

However, I certainly _wasn't_ expecting to be shoved off the step onto the ground. "You have the _nerve_ to come back?" she yelled. "After all the lies? We've been in serious danger for two years and you didn't tell us?"

I sat up. "How was I supposed to tell you? Would you have believed me?"

Ryan, my brother, appeared behind her. He glared at me. "You're showing your face around here? I'll hand it to you, you've got _guts_."

"I should have guessed," said Mom. "I should have known you were hiding something from me. But no. You let me _worry_ about you, with that story about the stalker that you gave us."

I stood up. "Mom. You don't know what happened. It's not that simple."

"Get. Off. My. Lawn. Get out of here."

I couldn't react. I just stared, unable to comprehend was happening.

Ryan grabbed my arm and dragged me out the gate to the sidewalk, next to the trash cans.

"You're a disappointment to everyone, you know," he said, shoving me to the ground.

I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut. A sob tore from my throat. Why, why, why? Just when I needed help most…

Ryan walked back to the house. The door slammed.

I just lay there for a while, crying.

Footsteps sounded on the cement. "Ivy?" Edward's voice.

A hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me to my feet. Edward studied my face with concern.

"I think I was just kicked out of my house," I said.

"Come with me," he said.

He supported me as I walked to his house.

"No one's here," he said as he let us in through the front door. He showed me into the living room, where I sank down onto the couch.

"Just tell me what happened," he said. "Take as much time as you need."

I recounted everything that had happened, between sobs.

"It's going to be okay," said Edward. "I know you might not feel like that right now. But I'll do what I can to make sure you'll be okay."

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll see who it is," said Edward, getting out of his

He was only gone a moment before he returned. "Um… there's a man here to see you? Didn't give a name."

"What did he look like?"

"Dark hair, tall. Brown eyes. Ring any bells?"

Yeah. Loud ones, clanging in my ears.

"Should I tell him you're not up to seeing anyone?"

"No need," said a voice behind him.

I looked up at Grant Ward and jumped to my feet. "Get out. Leave me alone. I just want to be left alone. Please, just leave me alone."

"I can't do that," he said, and produced a gun.

I had a feeling it was just an ICEr, but didn't want to find that out the hard way.

He fired at Edward, who collapsed.

I made a dash for the back door.

Something struck me in the shoulder and everything went black.

I woke up to a pounding headache and the sensation of cold metal around my wrist. I kept my eyes closed.

"You're really bad at pretending to be unconscious," said Ward's voice.

"You can hardly blame me for trying." I'd like to say I thought Ward wouldn't do anything to me. However, I try to avoid dishonesty. I tried to open my eyes, but the light was so bright I shut them again. "Please tell me that Edward is still alive. Because I'd really hate to be you if he isn't."

"He's fine."

I opened my eyes again. I was in the lab, on the table.

Raina moved into my line of vision.

"We've finished the tests."

"Have the results ready for John when he wants them."

"Of course. Ivy? What are you feeling right now?"

"A lot of anger and an intense desire to attack Ward. Aside from that, a headache. And like I'm going to throw up."

"Ah."

I sat up. The room was empty except for myself, Ward, and Raina.

"What kinds of tests did you run?" I asked Raina.

She blinked a little. "Aren't you..." she seemed to be searching for the right words for a moment. "Aren't you scared?"

"Honestly, having people capture me and try to wring more information out has become annoyingly routine. I'm more ticked off than anything. By the way, Ward, you are in _huge_ trouble. Seriously, HYDRA? You are _disturbingly_ loyal to Garrett. So what was in those tests? _Please_ tell me you weren't experimenting on me."

She said nothing.

"Hey, Flowers," said a male voice. Garrett walked in, stopping next to the table. "Nice to see you again, Vines."

"_Vines_? Really? What do you want, Garrett?"

"What, no hello?"

"Yeah. I want to get to the part where you try to intimidate me into giving you information, and I get to turn you down flat." Granted, it would be followed by pain, but there's little I can't handle anymore.

"You don't tell us what you want and I'll make you regret it."

"What? You think there's something you can do that I haven't been threatened with before and resisted?" My laugh came out as more of a cackle. "No. There's nothing you can do. Not anymore."


	27. Chapter 27

In hindsight, I'm not entirely sure if I was trying to escape or just letting off steam.

I lashed out, wrapping my legs around his neck. Ward tried to grab my neck, but I pulled out of the way, striking him in the collarbone with my elbow.

He grabbed hold of my hair and pulled my head back.

I rolled off the table, pulling my cuffed wrist _hard_. The handcuffs snapped. Super soldier serum is awesome, for the record.

I pulled my hair out of Ward's hand, ignoring the pain, then released Garrett's neck and ran to the door.

And, with my usual luck holding up, ran _straight_ into Mike Peterson.

He fired something which hit me in the chest.

My heart stopped. Literally.

"You know what that is?" asked Garrett.

If my heart_ could_ have been pounding, it would have been.

"You have until you die to start talking."

"That's… okay."

"That's _okay_?" asked Ward with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't think it of you. Then again, I suppose it _is_ just tissue at this point."

"What?" _Tissue_?

"I will say, though, I _am_ impressed. I wondered what you'd give up, but this I didn't expect."

"You won't kill me."

Garret grinned down at me. "You wish, Vines."

I closed my eyes, ignoring the pain. Even if they were going to… maybe it was better. Definitely less painful…

But then they'd go after Ariel. And Sharon. And Jack and Miranda.

I gathered all of my strength and sprang forward.

I'm not sure _how_ I did it. The super soldier serum, maybe? Or maybe a miracle. Probably the latter.

I deactivated the thing on Mr. Peterson's arm. He didn't stop me, probably because he hadn't been expecting me to be able to stand, let alone move toward him. And because I don't think he wanted to in the first place.

I collapsed onto the floor.

My heart started beating again.

Ward and Garrett both started yelling, Ward at me, Garrett at Mr. Peterson.

Someone rolled me onto my back. A hand – Raina's, I think – took my pulse.

"I'm not even sure if our Centipede soldiers could do that," she said.

"They don't have the motivation I do. And by the way, I know absolutely nothing that you want to know. So don't bother asking."

"She'll be fine," predicted Raina.

I wasn't really aware of much going on around me except for the voices filtering into my consciousness. Having your heart stopped _sucks_. A _lot_.

"I didn't think she'd let herself die in that state," muttered Ward.

"Too late now," said Garrett. He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye. "You _will_ tell us."

"And how do you intend to make me do that?"

"We're landing soon. If you don't tell us what we want to know, we'll send someone to start picking off your family and friends. First, your vampire boyfriend."

"He's named after Edward _Rochester_, not Cullen." That's what he always said when people made those jokes. "And I don't even know him that well."

"Then your whole family. Then that girl who's recovering from the bullet to the knee. Then that blond dancer And then that singer girl. A shame for a girl with a voice like that to lose it. Then Jack. And then Miranda. You want their deaths on your hands?"

"They wouldn't be on my hands. They would be on _your_ hands. And I would _not_ try to bother them. It would be a… fatal error on your part." The moment word of what happened out, I didn't doubt that Agent Coulson's team would show up. As would, I predicted, Tony, Natasha, Cap, and Agent Barton. Maybe Thor and Dr. Banner, I don't know. As would Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and Jack Frost. And the Doctor. And my friends would know about what happened in _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._. They would be able to put things together and avoid getting killed. "If you actually managed to kill any of them, I'd be almost surprised. If you did, though, I would personally ensure your demise, and enjoy every second of it."

There was a sudden yell from nearby. Ward had Edward by the hair.

I've never moved as fast as I did in that moment.

I pushed Ward and Edward apart, driving an elbow into Ward's face, stepping in front of my friend. If anyone wanted to lay a finger on him, they were going to have to get past me first.

"I told you there was something going on," said Ward with a laugh, addressing Garrett.

"No, there isn't. I'd do the same for any of my friends."

"We're friends?" said Edward. "Wow, I never thought I'd ever be so glad to be friend zoned."

I actually laughed at his comment. "Yeah, well, most guys don't get even that far. Consider yourself extremely lucky."

Garrett tried to grab my arm and pull me away.

My kick to the stomach caused him to stagger back.

Ward pounced, pulling me away.

I kicked and struggled, but couldn't get away.

"I'll kill him," said Garrett.

"I kind of thought so. But if you do, I still won't tell you. Which means that all you'll have accomplished is ticking me off. And I don't think you want to do that."

"I know. But I can make him scream."

Edward started laughing. "You HYDRA people really like doing that, don't you?"

"Even if you don't care about what you do to your body, don't you care about him?" asked Ward.

I wanted to rip everyone in that room apart. "Edward, I'm sorry."

"Do what you have to, Ivy."

"I'm almost disappointed in you, Ivy," said Ward.

"Yeah, well, I'm _completely_ disappointed in you, Ward. You sick –"

"I didn't think you had that little respect for life. And I don't mean him. I mean referring to the _other_ life. Or do you not believe in life at conception?"

And then it all came together in a horrible realization. Ward's surprise when I didn't try to save my own life. The comment about tissue. About my "condition".

I had two people to protect now. And one of them was inside of me. Growing.

My legs gave out and everything went black.


	28. Chapter 28

"Certainly explains a lot, doesn't it?"

That voice… whose was it, what were they talking about?

The memory came flooding back.

I _had_ noticed that something was off. But I'd thought it might have something to do with the serum. My brain simply couldn't accept…

Footsteps sounded, heading away from me.

I kept my eyes closed.

I was going to have a baby.

How could I handle – let alone raise – a kid? I have all the maternal instinct of a cheese grater. And their connection to me put them in danger from the moment they came out.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had run tests. How could they have _not_ known? Or had they known and not told me? I would be too early along to be showing yet – had they wanted to hide it from me while they determined how much of a threat the baby was?

I made a silent promise to myself. Whatever happened, this precious little girl or boy was going to be safe. Whatever had to happen would happen.

"Ivy?" groaned a voice near me.

I opened my eyes and turned.

Edward was handcuffed to a chair next to me. The room was otherwise empty.

"Edward, I'm so sorry," I said. I slid off the table I was lying on.

The door behind me opened. It was Ward in the doorway. He looked almost… regretful. "You didn't know? About…"

"No. And your comments about my _baby_ being tissue are not appreciated. It is a real, live, human being, and I'll thank you to remember that."

He looked like he felt a little embarrassed. "What did you want to do with it?"

"My child is not an 'it', Ward. It's a baby. A boy or a girl, though I don't know which just yet."

"You realize that you have more to lose if we decide to beat the information out of you?"

I sent up a little prayer. _Dear God, please, please, please don't let it come to that. I'll do anything you want me to, just please don't let me be put in that position!_

God always answers prayers – you just don't know whether He'll say yes or no.

Ward reached forward and uncuffed Edward, then grabbed him by the throat.

"You'll tell me everything. _Now_. Or I will strangle your friend."

I didn't doubt that he would. "You are a despicable human being. Right now, I hate you as much as I've hated anyone. And I've known some _very_ bad people." I wanted to attack Ward but was afraid of hurting Edward. Then again, Edward _was_ dying anyhow.

I threw myself at Ward with an energy born of anger. Anger at everything that HYDRA had done to me. I was sick of this, of everything.

I broke his grip on Edward's throat, then almost literally threw him out the door, slamming and locking it behind him.

"Quick, block the door," I ordered, grabbing the chair and jamming it against the door handle.

Edward helped me to move heavy objects against the door. Footsteps pounded outside.

My gaze moved around the room, looking for other possible entrances and exits or weapons. No weapons, or windows.

"You really think that's going to stop Deathlok?" yelled Garrett's voice. "Or me? Or even Ward?"

"No. I think that Ward is, despite your horrible, horrible attempts at being a father figure, still not completely gone. The SkyeWard fans still ship it, so you never know. I don't any of you will kill me, though. Dead people don't do much talking. And if you kill Edward, you do nothing except for tick me off and make me even less likely to tell you anything. So he's safe." Hopefully.

"And what about your fetus?"

"I'll kill you before you lay a finger on my baby." I covered my mouth in surprise. No matter how angry I was, I'd _never_ said something like that.

"I could kill Mike Peterson's son, too."

"You could. But then your leverage would be gone. I'd pay for a video of what happened to you after that. It would be… satisfying. Even though I already have seen what happens to you. You'd love to see it yourself, wouldn't you? To know?"

"Ivy, stop that," said Edward.

I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to stop. "Sorry." It was my coping mechanism when I was scared – the words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Well, you're going to get both of us killed."

"Yes, that would be unfortunate. But don't worry. We'll get out of this. I've been in tighter spots."

"I have a feeling I really, _really_ don't want to know."

"Not really."

Something banged against the door. "You can stay in there, then!" yelled Garrett. "See how you're doing after a few days without water!"

Edward looked panicky.

"Relax," I ordered.

"RELAX!" he yelled. "You drag me into all of this, get me tortured to keep your stupid secrets, nearly get me killed – and you just tell me to _relax_?"

I'd never seen Edward blow up like that. I actually took a step backward.

Edward took several deep breaths. "You mouth off at people and then make them mad at you! You provoke things and then people feel sorry for you when you and other people suffer because of it!"

I liked this side of Edward. Not the angry, explosive side. The one that was willing to criticize me when I was in the wrong.

As if to make my day worse, gunshots exploded outside.

Edward yelped and dove under the table.

"Edward, have you ever watched _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._?"

He shook his head.

"The gunshots mean that help is on the way. I promise. You're going to be okay. We're both going to be okay."

As if to contradict my words, the door started shaking. Apparently, Garrett had changed his mind.


	29. Chapter 29

Edward made himself smaller under the table, pushing himself up against the wall.

"Edward," I said. "Whatever happens, I promise, I'll make sure you're okay. You're going to be fine."

The door collapsed inwards. Apparently, Garrett had realized he was out of time and changed his mind about us.

It was Deathlock. Of course.

"Mr. Peterson," I said, crawling out from under the table and standing in front of it, trying to block Edward from his view. "It's almost over."

"What is?"

"Everything."

"I'm sorry about this. But he'll kill my son if I don't do what he wants. Though you, of course, knew that."

"Yeah. I did. He's going to be okay. I promise. Please leave Edward alone. He doesn't have anything to do with this, he couldn't tell you anything if he wanted to."

"I can't do that."

He pushed me out of the way and dragged out Edward from under the table.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone as scared as Edward was right then. I didn't blame him. He shook like a leaf and stammered something that I didn't understand.

I had two choices – confess and let him escape the pain, or watch.

I took a third option and ran.

They weren't going to kill Edward quite yet. He was_ way_ too useful. And if I wasn't there, they might leave him alone to go after me.

Garrett and Ward, I hoped, were elsewhere. Dealing with the attack on their base. I really, _really_ hoped.

Edward's footsteps sounded behind me, going in the opposite direction. Smart move. Deathlock's went after his.

I dodged around a corner and ran straight into Ward.

Ward was not enhanced. I could deal with him. And gladly would.

Ward grabbed me, picking me up around the middle, pinning my arms against my sides.

I leaned forward and bit him, then drove a knee into his midsection.

He dropped me.

I followed up by kicking out his knee and punching him in the face – all the while screaming at him. I honestly don't remember half of what I said, but the words "liar" and "traitor" definitely showed up a few times.

He grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. I hit back at him with my head.

"You lied to everyone!" I screamed. "I _liked_ you! I would have taken a _bullet_ for you!" I was actually crying. Tears flowed down my face as I kicked out at his legs.

He twisted my arm a little harder. "I did what I had to."

"You didn't _have_ to do anything! You didn't _have_ to listen to Garrett! You didn't _have_ to join HYDRA! You and you alone are responsible for your decisions, just like I am for mine!" I took several deep breaths, trying to compose myself. "Remember that, Ward. When you're thinking on what you've done, remember it was your choice."

With that, I kicked him so hard he let go.

Has anyone ever betrayed you? Made you want to hurt them? Believe me, in that moment, nothing would have pleased me better than to hurt him. But that's not how I was raised. I know better. Revenge, however much I might want it, isn't mine to take.

I ran away from him, sprinting through the hall and deeper into the building. I shouldn't have run away from Edward. But what good would it be if I stayed?

I eventually found my way to that room where the final confrontation takes place. Straight into the middle of it at a run. I couldn't slow down in time to avoid crashing into Garrett. Because letting me avoid it would be the nice thing to do.

Garrett reacted faster than Agent Coulson or Director Fury. He lunged forward and grabbed me by the throat.

"Hey, Agent Coulson," I managed, clawing at the hand. "Sorry to interrupt like this."

"Let her go, Garrett," said Agent Coulson.

"Why?"

I drove my fist into his neck. "That's why," I growled as he released my neck. "You'd strangle me? In _my_ condition? I should be surprised. But I'm not."

"How'd you get here?" asked Agent Coulson.

"It's complicated. And frustrating. And involves HYDRA. And… oh, I'll explain later when we don't have to deal with this lunatic."

"What about your friend?" asked Garrett.

"Oh, please. You kill Edward, you kill the only way to get information out of me. Not it matters anymore, you sick example of humanity – if you _are_ still human anymore. You are an evil, _arrogant_ man, John Garrett. I could almost feel sorry for you. You must be so alone on top of that pyramid you've put yourself on."

"I've seen the universe! Time and space!"

"I've explored that with an alien from Gallifrey. And you'll notice I'm not completely insane. You, on the other hand… I don't know exactly what that stuff is, but seriously. What is _wrong_ with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me. You remember that speech you used to give us, Nick, about how one man accomplish anything once he realizes he can be something bigger? Well, now I am," said Garret proudly.

"A part – a part of something bigger."

His face fell slightly. "Is that how it went?"

"Not a great listener," noted Agent Coulson.

"If you tell me this whole HYDRA path thing you took is because you misheard my one man speech..."

"I am the key to the future of the universe. I'm the origin of all things."

"You got it, right?"

"Totally. Loud and clear."

"If you're the key to the future of the universe, I think I'll travel to a different one and stay there. That really controlled world in _The Giver_… doesn't actually sound so bad, as compared to the alternative."

"That hurts."

"Good. It was supposed to."

As I distracted Garrett by talking, Fury handed Agent Coulson the big gun.

Deathlock appeared and attacked.

Agent Coulson fired, twice. Garrett fell to the floor.

And that was that.

There was a moment of silence.

"What condition were you talking about, Ivy?" asked Agent Coulson.

"It's… they… now isn't the time. Later. I need to talk to Agent Simmons. When you've… finished all the cleanup."

I didn't speak toward before they took him away. I'd gotten in everything I'd wanted to say beforehand.

Edward came out only after Ward was taken away. He was clearly shaken and his throat was bruised.

I barely managed to get in "Edward, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" before he was escorted out.

In hindsight, I wish I'd gone after them and said a little more.

**Two reviews on my last chapter? Yay! Thank you!**

**Reviews are always welcome, from anyone, saying pretty much anything.**


	30. Chapter 30

"Stupid stupid stupid, and cruel, and very stupid!" yelled Agent Coulson.

We had finished "cleaning up" the base and had retreated to the Bus, where Agent Coulson was describing what he thought of what had happened.

"Seriously!" I added. "I've been dosed with super soldier serum and had a whole bunch of stuff… done to me physically and you didn't tell me?" I hadn't mentioned the baby to anyone yet and didn't want to say anything – Ward could have been lying. I wouldn't put anything past him. "What if I'd done something stupid and gotten killed because I didn't know?"

"I think you've both made your point," said Director Fury.

"Why bring me back in the first place? Clearly I didn't think it was the best idea. I warned you about people losing their minds!" Agent Coulson clearly didn't think he'd quite made his point yet.

"Agent May was on top of the situation, and she says you're fine. Aren't you? It was a break glass in case of emergency situation."

"Yes, but that emergency was supposed to be the fall of an Avenger!"

"Exactly." He paused to let his words sink in. "And I'm glad I did it too. When you want to build something you need a strong foundation. You know how few people I trust, Coulson."

"You can count them on one hand."

"And I'm not afraid to cut off fingers. The principle SHIELD was founded on was pure."

"Protection," said Agent May.

"Protection. One word. Sometimes to protect one man from himself, other times to protect the planet against an alien invasion from another universe. It's a broad job description."

"No need to tell me," said Agent Coulson.

"But the belief that drives us all is the same. Whether it's one man, or all mankind."

"That they're worth saving."

"That truth lives inside you, Coulson. Before it was torn apart, SHIELD was a lot of moving parts. Guys like you were the heart. Now you'll be the head." He handed him a small cube."

"What is it?" asked Agent Coulson.

"Toolbox. To help you build it back up." Director Fury started toward the door.

"You want me to start over, rebuild SHIELD," said Agent Coulson.

"From scratch. Take your time, and do it right. You'll still have his back."

"Of course," said Agent May.

"There's no one else I trust with this."

"Thank you Sir. How do you... how should I proceed?"

"That's up to you, Director."

With that, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. left.

"Director Coulson," I said. "It has a nice sound to it."

He stared at the cube in his hand. "I… wow."

"If you'll excuse me, Director, I need to… talk to Agent Simmons."

"Yes… of course."

I left and walked to the lab of the Bus, where Agent Simmons was arranging some things in boxes.

"Ivy!" she said. Her smile was slightly forced. "How… nice to see you."

"I'm sorry, Agent Simmons. I'm so sorry about Fitz. Please believe me when I say that if there'd been another way –"

"Did you need something?"

I almost wished she'd scream at me. Tell me how horrible I was. That would have been easier than the non-response that I got.

I bit my lip. "Yeah. Agent Simmons… I told you I didn't remember what HYDRA did. Well… there's something…" I couldn't force myself to say the words aloud, so I lowered my voice. "Please… if you can check somehow for me."

Her face had turned slightly pale. "Yes, of course. Did you tell Agent Coulson?"

"No. If I'm wrong, I'll have worried him for nothing." It could have just been an attempt by Ward and Garrett to manipulate me. I needed it confirmed by someone I trusted.

Simmons sat me down and started an examination, taking samples of a few things.

She looked genuinely disturbed at the whole thing.

Skye chose that time to walk in. "Ivy! Are you okay? Agent May is just explaining everything to your... friend. What are you…"

Simmons put the results of the test up on the screen, her hands visibly shaking.

"Ivy… Ward wasn't lying."

I would have collapsed if I hadn't been sitting down.

"What is that?" asked Skye.

"That is… proof. Of… I'm going to have a baby."

I threw up. Right there. Then started to cry.

Skye wrapped her arms around me in a hug. "It's going to be okay. You're going to be fine."

"Not this time."

Agent Coulson chose that exact moment to enter the room.

Simmons was good enough to take him aside and start explaining to him in a low voice.

Skye rubbed my back. "We can fix it. It'll be okay."

"Fix it? No. You can't 'fix' pregnancy. This can't end well, Skye. Not for me, not for the baby. Not for anyone." A baby. It could only have one possible father... this could be awkward to explain.

I sobbed into Skye's shoulder for probably about half an hour. Eventually, I slumped down against the back of the chair in exhaustion."Make it stop," I pleaded in a whispwe, too quietly for Skye to hear. "Make it stop, I can't handle this. Not so much, not at one time. Please, no more. Make it stop."

Skye let go. "Do you want to be alone for a while?"

I shook my head. "No, please don't go."

I sent up a prayer, asking God to, no matter what happened, take care of my baby.

Eventually, I fell asleep in my chair.


	31. Chapter 31

I woke up to Skye gently shaking my shoulder. "Ivy? I'm sorry to wake you up, but Director Coulson wants to see you."

I obeyed, standing up.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Because if you're not feeling well he'll wait."

"I'm fine."

Director Coulson was in his office.

"Sit down," he said as I entered.

I obeyed.

"How long did you suspect?"

"I didn't suspect anything until Ward told me. I don't know how he knew." Probably from the tests Raina had run.

"I got a lot of the information from Fury. He said they hid the information because they didn't know how much a baby could change things and wanted to know before you were told. Do you have any plans? Any ideas?"

"My parents kicked me out of the house. Don't really think they'd accept my kid."

"You can stay here as long as you need. You do have some options."

"They really depend on what you want to do from here. Did you have any plans?"

"No. A few ideas – I know some people who might be willing to take me in – but I don't know."

"I had an offer. What would you think of staying with us?"

"I couldn't impose –"

"As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

I sat back in the chair. "What?"

"We're rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ground up. Recruiting people who we trust. I trust you."

"Director Coulson… I'm… honored."

"We'll train you. Take care of you and your baby, if you want to keep it, or help you put it up for adoption."

Just so we're clear, "ending" the pregnancy was _never_ an option. If he had suggested it, I would never have agreed to it.

"I accept your offer."

"You don't have to give me an answer now. You _can_ think about it."

"I don't really need to. A normal life is pretty much impossible for me anymore. And I trust you."

"It's not your only option. Mr. Stark, I believe, mentioned that he'd be happy to look after you after he found out."

"I… I think I'm supposed to be here. If that makes any sense."

"Okay." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "We've sent your friend home already."

"Good, it's better that way." I couldn't face Edward or anyone. Not after the news from the day before. For some reason, especially Edward. It would be so awkward to tell the guy who had a crush on me that I was pregnant.

"You can't contact your friends or family if you choose this. Not from here."

"I don't think my family _wants_ to hear from me from me. And everyone else will understand if we tell them first."

"Alright. First, I want Simmons to give you a physical examination. You're dismissed."

"Yes, Director Coulson." I stood up.

I underwent a thorough physical examination by Agent Simmons. She declared me to be in extremely good physical shape, and said that the super soldier serum was wearing off more quickly now. She also said that, despite all of the crazy stuff I'd been doing, my baby was fine. He or she was healthy, in one piece, and due in about seven months.

Agent Simmons also informed me that, should I continue doing stupid things after the serum wore off, that would not be the case.

I reassured her I had no plans to do anything of the sort. Then again, I wasn't exactly planning to fall off that helicarrier, either. Or get punched in the head by the Winter Soldier

The first week or two was _amazing_. Busy, but amazing. They immediately put me to work working through stuff and sorting it – desk work, the stuff you'd get paid minimum wage for at a normal job. Here I got room and board and training to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent.

Agent May and Agent Triplett took turns giving me physical training after I was done work for the day. They worked me as hard as Agent Romanoff did and expected nothing but the best.

Agent Triplett hadn't been informed about my "skill set" yet, but he was shortly after I began training.

He treated me very suspiciously at first after finding out. I didn't blame him, seeing as I'd let a HYDRA mole run loose in S.H.I.E.L.D. and kill a bunch of people. Honestly, the treatment from everyone was pretty cold at first. Even Skye was a little upset over the whole thing. However, they did eventually begin to forgive me. First Skye, then Simmons, and eventually everyone else.

Once a week, I was subjected to Agent Simmons checking up on me. It wasn't exactly her specialty, but if you study biology of the human body you usually end up studying the reproductive system. And she was the only person who had a clue what to do.

Agent Coulson tried to get in touch with my parents a few times, but they refused to talk to me or anyone connected with S.H.I.E.L.D. Ryan picked up the phone once when I was on the other end, trying to talk to Mom and Dad. He'd snarled at me to leave them alone and hung up.

One day, I was permitted me to come along while some supplies were collected and contact everyone. To say my goodbyes and all that.

Miranda and Jack both had plans – Jack was going off to study, Miranda was getting a job at a bookstore.

Ariel was away from home now, getting ready for her musical. Her first big role. I couldn't have been happier for her.

Sharon didn't say much, just that she was going through therapy. That was great news. A person who goes through this kind of stuff _should_ have therapy. Director Coulson wanted me to before S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded. Apparently, there was some HYDRA involvement – a possibly crazy Ivy was easier to manipulate.

Edward just never picked up the phone. I called and called, but he never answered. Must not have been home.

I even called Agent Romanoff. After her initial "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN STEVE WAS SO WORRIED THERE HAD BETTER BE A REALLY GOOD EXPLANATION FOR WHY YOU WENT MISSING ON US LIKE THAT", she was quite happy to talk.

"I stopped by your house to find you," she said. "Your parents threatened to call the police if I didn't leave."

"Yeah. The surprise was… not well received. But that's okay. I've… found a new place for myself. Somewhere I think I can do some good."

"Did they tell you about…" her voice trailed off, as if she was trying to figure out how to best say something.

"The baby? Yeah. You knew?"

"I was sparring with you and training you. They felt it was best if I knew. We only wanted to protect you. Nick wanted to make sure it wasn't a threat to you or anyone else."

"I understand."

The other friends I had, I couldn't contact. Too dangerous for them. They didn't necessarily know, and there was no reason to endanger them.

Still, I was as happy as I'd ever been. Unfortunately, it was too much to ask for it to last.


	32. Chapter 32

It was late at night, after about a month.

The morning had been spent cleaning. Yes, the base has to be swept and mopped and dusted on a regular basis. Guess who was responsible for that?

Director Coulson had decided I needed to keep up school work. Agent Simmons had spent part of the afternoon teaching me about organelles and giving me quizzes. Organelles, by the way, are the things in your cells that make the cells function by producing energy or moving stuff or whatever.

After that, Agent May and I had sparred. I was _exhausted_. The super soldier serum was completely out of my system. I really, really missed it.

I couldn't sleep, as tired as I was, and decided to get a drink of water.

I made it to the kitchen fine and poured myself some water.

A sound behind me started me. I spun around.

There was no one there.

Still, I _sensed_ someone.

I reached into a kitchen drawer and pulled out a knife. "Who's there? I know someone's there." I advanced forward.

My foot caught on a box which had been left on the floor.

I tripped and fell, the knife going right into my chest.

The light turned on and Agent May dropped down next to me, ripping away my shirt from the injury.

Director Coulson appeared a moment later. "Simmons!" he yelled.

I started laughing. Yes, actually laughing. "A stupid accident. A stupid accident. That's going to finish me off." My laughter turned into coughing as Simmons appeared, leaning over me.

"You're _not_ going to die," said Agent Coulson. "You're going to stay with us. Have that kid. It's going to be fine. _You're_ going to be fine."

Between the three of them they moved me back to my room.

The next few hours were a blur. People talking. Moving around me. Skye was there. Simmons. Agent May. Director Coulson. Triplett.

I knew I was going to die. They didn't tell me, but I could sense it from their faces as the night dragged on. I only hoped the baby might be saved, somehow.

At about three in the morning, Director Coulson moved next to the bed, holding a cell phone. "I've got your friends on the phone. Couldn't reach your parents or Edward, sorry."

"It's fine." I took the phone.

Miranda was pretty calm. As always. "You just can't do this to us," she said, almost as if she were in shock.

"Since when could you tell me what to do? Guys… it's fine. Director Coulson, please don't try to revive me if I go."

"Don't worry, we're all out of that stuff."

"Good. It's better that way. Guys, talk to me," I said. "Just… talk. Someone, say something."

"You changed all of us," said Ariel. "I owe you a lot." She released a sob.

Sharon's crying was audible. "You can't just leave!"

I turned my head slightly away from the phone. "Skye… your parents… I don't think your search is quite over yet. And Agent Coulson? Please don't go insane from that stuff like Garrett. It was pathetic to watch. Ariel, enjoy what you have. You've earned it. If you see Erik again, don't do anything stupid, I'm not there to pull you out."

"And you never needed pulling out of a bad situation?"

"That's not the point. Director Coulson… since I'm dying… did _you_ send that file to Ariel?" He seemed the logical person to have done so – either him or Skye.

"No. What file?"

"The one to Ariel. With all that science stuff."

"No."

"Skye?"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

I believed both of them. So it was back to guessing. Not that I had much longer to guess.

It was becoming harder and harder to breathe. My body was starting to shut down. Then a thought occurred to me. My watch…

I pressed down a number.

A whirring sound filled the room. A blue police telephone box appeared at the head of the bed.

"IVY!" said a voice as the Doctor stepped out.

"Doctor?" I said.

"Who's this?" demanded Director Coulson.

"A friend. He's called the Doctor."

Simmons just stared, jaw dropped. "Oh… it's… Ivy… oh. Oh my goodness."

"Hello, everyone, I'm the Doctor. Ivy's… guardian, ish? I don't know. Seem to have gotten yourself into trouble, haven't you Ivy?"

"That's one way to put it."

"I think I can… Ivy's beyond help," said the Doctor. "But I think I can save something else… if you know what I mean."

"Ivy?" said Director Coulson. "Is he telling the truth?"

"Probably. As far as I know. I trust him."

"Right then." The Doctor started disconnecting me from all the medical stuff.

"What are you doing?" demanded Simmons.

"I can't let you have the body. I'm sorry. Too dangerous. Too many potential paradoxes and energy reactions could happen. You could destroy your universe with one wrong move. When she dies, there's going to be massive explosions of energy that could possibly destroy your universe – if not hers as well." He scooped me up.

Coulson opened his mouth, probably to protest.

"Let him," I said. "It's okay."

He carried me to the TARDIS. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Simmons fainted.

"Goodbye," I said, barely able to breathe now. "I'll see you, I hope. One day."

Skye moved forward suddenly. "What will you do with it?"

"If I save it, I'll make sure it's safe and bring it to you, if you want it. I don't think her parents want it."

Director Coulson nodded assent.

The TARDIS door shut behind us.

The Doctor broke into a run.

"Clara!" shouted the Doctor. "Is it warmed up?"

I was carried down the corridor leading from the console room and into another room. A shelf had been pulled out from the white wall.

The Doctor set me down on it. "This might hurt."

"I can take it."

He closed the shelf, putting me in the wall. I'm not claustrophobic, but it was kind of scary to be in such a small space in complete darkness.

A horrible pain passed through my body. I passed out instantly.


	33. Chapter 33

I've never been so surprised to wake up before.

The Doctor leaned over me. "Feeling better?"

I moved a hand to my chest. No wound. There was only a little soreness.

"What did you do?" I sat up.

I was in the same room, lying on a cot that hadn't been there before.

"Gallifreyan technology, slightly modified because your biology is different than ours. Saved your life."

"And the baby?"

"Doing fine."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "They'll be so thrilled."

"Um… about that. You can't go back."

"What?"

"Too many possible accidents, Ivy. Even with your gloves on, you could put someone in the wrong universe and ruin time. Which could tear the universes apart."

"But they think I'm dead!"

"Ivy, if you come into any more contact with them, you could destroy _both_ universes!" he snapped.

I sat back. "What?"

"Ever time you travel between two universes, you made a little hole. Contact with important figures worsens it. On its own, it repairs itself. But if you don't leave, it gets worse and worse. You've had a lot of contact with them. Too much. If you have much more, it'll rip those universes apart. Look, I'm not saying you _can't_ come back. You just can't go back to _them_ for a bit. _Guardians of the Galaxy_ should be fine. Just… not anywhere near them on their Earth for a bit."

"But… what am I going to do?"

"I'm going to set you up somewhere safer. With better hospitals. We can figure everything out from there."

"Doctor…" He was right. I wanted to do good? This was where good needed doing. For the good of the universes, and of my baby, I would have to sacrifice that. "Thank you."

"Your friends will still be traveling between universes for a bit, until the energy you left on things wears out and runs down."

I nodded.

Clara slipped in through the door.

"And your watch can take you anywhere in time and space. It also translates languages, so no need to worry about that. With your universe traveling, you could have quite a vacation while you relax before the baby's born."

With _Guardians of the Galaxy_ coming up? I didn't think so.

"You're a knitter, right?" said Clara. "That means lots of baby things. All those cute little shoes and blanket patterns. I can always give you some of my old things."

"You're going to be a great mother," predicted the Doctor.

If only I had that much confidence in myself. "Doctor… I didn't say goodbye to Edward. Would that be…"

"He'll have to keep a secret. The less people who know that you're alive, the less likely you are to have aliens or something like that coming after you."

"I trust him." I _never_ would have trusted him with something like this, but now… I'd trust him with a lot of things. "I don't intend on staying away forever. And I would like to have someone who knows, who can verify for me when I come back." When I came back, I'd like to avoid people believing me to be a ghost or imposter or alien or whatever they would come up with because they didn't believe I was alive.

We ended up in Edward's living room.

He stared at me as I climbed out of the TARDIS. "Ivy? What… They said you were dead!"

"Yeah, I know. It's complicated. A friend… helped out. I wanted to say goodbye. You'd been avoiding my calls. Why?"

"I… didn't know what I was supposed to say or do."

"I'm leaving. And I might not be back for a long time. I need two favors."

"Name them."

"This will sound stupid, but… could you look after Bucky for me? He doesn't like my family much and I'm worried that they might neglect him."

"I promise."

"And you can't tell anyone I'm alive. It's too dangerous."

He hesitated, then nodded.

"Thanks." I wrapped my arms around him. "Goodbye. I'll miss you."

"Ivy… by now, I think you've probably figured out that… I like you. Did you ever…"

I wanted to say yes. But the truth is, I was confused about how I felt. I didn't really know him. And romantic stuff, honestly, to me, is a mystery. I've never been one for crushes or boy stuff. I've been asked out by plenty of guys who found me attractive, but never really knew anything about romance. I'm the girl who, while the rest of the girls were talking about the celebrities or guys they found attractive, was completely clueless.

I avoided his eyes. "I don't know, Edward. And I hate to say this, but it doesn't matter. Romantic entanglement… I don't want to start a relationship that won't lead anywhere. And I _can't_ go anywhere with a relationship, because physical contact is dangerous to the other person. I could put them _anywhere_. Holding hands, the gloves help. And that's not even taking into account the people who I've ticked off coming after them. Edward, I like you. As a friend. I'm sorry if –"

"Don't apologize," he interrupted. "Being just friends isn't so bad. You make a good friend."

"Thanks. Goodbye."

I climbed back into the TARDIS.

"Well," said the Doctor. "It's time we were off."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere safe. I just… want to rest for a while." Even if I probably couldn't.

"I can do safe," said the Doctor, and he pulled the lever on the TARDIS controls.

And that's the end for me. For now.

**Don't worry, it's not over yet, we've still got a few more lose ends to wrap up… just in time for **_**Guardians of the Galaxy**_**. Yay!**


	34. Chapter 34

Hi, this is Miranda.

Everything almost settled into normalcy after we got the news.

I spent most of my time moping my room, if you want the truth. Well, moping and reading _Les Miserables_.

One day, though, my moping was interrupted by a knock on the door.

I bookmarked my spot, got up off the bed and opened the door slightly. Jack peered through the space.

He held up a bucket of ice cream and two spoons. "I promised you ice cream. It's chocolate with caramel, peanut butter, nuts, and little bits of… more chocolate."

I opened the door. We sat down on the carpet with the bucket and dug in with the spoons.

"Ivy wouldn't want you to be like this," said Jack. "I haven't spoken to you in two weeks. The last time that happened was in third grade."

"I know." I ate a spoonful of the ice cream. Yum. "I just keep thinking about her. Do you think she suffered?"

"Not if she could hear you. You were the person who always supported her. In everything. You cared. She needed that."

"Thanks."

He took another spoonful. "Miranda… I thought I'd lost you. That day. Carrying you down to the road."

"I thought I was going to die too." I dipped the spoon in again. "But I'm fine. It takes more than two gunshot wounds and poison to kill me. You're stuck with me for a while yet."

"Well, when that happened, I realized something. We've been friends for a while. But I think that's developed into something more. For me, anyhow."

I paused, spoon halfway to my mouth. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying… that I like you."

My heart started thudding. Was he… "Well, considering the fact that you spend so much time with me, it would seem a reasonable conclusion to come to."

"No! Not like that! I _like_ you."

Somehow, it's the emphasis on the word that makes all the difference.

I set down my spoon. "I'm… I… don't know what to say."

"Do you feel the same way? All you have to say is yes or no."

"I say… yes. Yes, yes I do."

He reached across and took my hand. "That's all I needed to hear. Thanks."

I guess, over time, our friendship that had changed into something else, without either of us quite realizing when. Not quite something out of a fairy tale or a book. But I don't want a fairytale.

When one of us woke up with a nightmare from what had happened, we immediately called the other and would talk until we were calm enough to go back to sleep. Once, Jack actually showed up at my house and came through the window. We talked until dawn, when he left.

Mr. Stark had managed to arrange a scholarship for Jack to attend college – yes, Jack's smart enough that he graduated early. Genius IQ, remember? [We did mention that, right Jack?]

Me? I kept going to school and working at my job and tried to pretend like none of this had happened. Like Ivy had never happened. Because whether I liked it or not, that's how things were. Are.

Sharon here.

I had nightmares every night after what happened.

I used to call Ivy when I had nightmares, to cry and pour everything out. She'd listen quietly on the other end, then say some reassuring things that calmed me down enough to get back to sleep.

Now she wasn't there. I caught myself dialing her number a few times before I realized there'd be no one on the other end.

I couldn't really tell the therapist what had happened, so the help he could provide was rather limited. All our parents thought we'd been some of the targets of Project Insight and that Ivy had just been the first to go.

With Ivy gone, Edward became a substitute shoulder to cry on. We'd been through some of the same stuff. He'd listen to me talk for hours, listen to me cry, then hand me a tissue and calm me down.

Ariel here.

I wanted to curl up into a ball and shut everything out when I got the news.

Ivy would have had my head if I did that, though. Instead, I threw all my energy into the part of Leisl. Aside from that, people asked for me to appear at fundraisers and stuff_._

When the show started, people were obviously thrilled with it – and with me. If there was one thing constant in any reviews, it was that I was a highlight of the show.

One evening, after the show, I decided to step outside for a bit of air. I'd had a headache throughout the entire performance and felt a little sick.

It was dark outside, in the alley. A cold wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the trees on the other side of the fence.

A chill crept up the back of my neck. I sensed someone was watching me. Where from, I couldn't tell.

I didn't want to stick around to see who it was and reached for the door handle.

Something hit me in the shoulder.

Then a pair of arms grabbed me, pulling me backwards.

I kicked and stabbed the heel of my shoe into my attacker's leg. He released me. I lashed out with a back kick, slamming my heel into his stomach.

My knees went weak and I collapsed forward.

My attacker's footsteps came closer. A booted foot slammed into my jaw.

"Tell Barton that's for what he did!"

I rather doubted I'd be doing that with my jaw throbbing the way it was.

The boot connected with my ribs, then again with my stomach. I tried to scramble up but was kicked down again.

Everything was going fuzzy – the thing that hit me in the shoulder must have had something to knock me out with. Great. Just great.

There was a dull thud. Something hit the pavement next to me.

A voice said something, but I didn't quite manage to make out what they said or who it was before I passed out.


	35. Chapter 35

Ariel here.

I woke up to aching pain in my jaw and ribs.

I opened my eyes and found myself in an unfamiliar room. There was a desk next to the bed I lay on and a kitchen table with chairs around it. On the other side of the room was a door.

Everything came rushing back. My heart started pounding.

I pushed the blanket back and slid off the bed.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

I dropped down, hiding under the desk.

The door hinges squealed. The footsteps moved quickly in my direction.

"Ariel?" called a man's voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place it.

I made myself as small as possible under the desk. My heart thudded so loudly I was sure he must be able to hear it.

The newcomer turned toward the desk and dropped down in front of me.

My hands shot forward, shoving him away, knocking him over. I squeezed past him and made a break for the door, screaming.

An arm wrapped around my middle – which aggravated my aching ribs – and a hand covered my mouth. My attacker pulled me backwards away from the door.

I twisted and tried to kick at him. My heel connected with his shin. He staggered slightly, but held on, lifting me off the ground. I kicked even harder. The only thought going through my head was that HYDRA had decided to get back at me for what my part in the Triskelion fiasco. The sight of Ivy after she found out what they'd done rushed into my memory.

I drove my heel into his knee.

His grip loosened and I slid out, making a break for the door.

It was locked.

A hand grabbed my arm, yanking me away from the door.

I struck out with my free hand, clawing at my attacker's face.

He grabbed my other wrist.

I tried to twist away, but the grip on my wrists refused to release. I switched to kicking again.

My back pressed up against the wall. A gasp of surprise escaped my mouth. My wrists were pinned on the wall next to me.

"Calm down, would you?" said a voice.

That was when I recognized the voice. I tilted my head upwards to get my first good look at him. "Clint?" For a moment, I was so shocked I couldn't speak. "What's… what's going on?"

"Nat contacted me last month – she told me everything. Then I heard that there were some people who I ticked off a few years ago were seen in this area. I thought it was worth checking out. Apparently, I came just in time." He released my wrists. "Don't worry. They're not going to bother you again."

So, where does one start with the brother from the alternate dimension who you've never met?

You start out with two mugs of peppermint tea and a long talk.

Clint asked questions, and I asked questions. I explained about what I knew about how things had gotten the way they were.

We were so caught up in talking that I only realized how long I must have been missing when the sun started shining in through the window.

"Don't worry," said Clint, as if reading my mind. "Your parents think you went back with Jack and Miranda and are spending the night at Miranda's. They've both agreed to vouch for you."

Jack and Miranda came a lot of evenings – if not to watch the show, to spend time out together. No one would question it.

"Oh, and on the way into the house you ran into a door. To explain the bruise."

"Is it bad?"

"It does show."

Well, that's what makeup is for.

"Your ribs are bruised too, but they'll be fine if you take it easy for a while."

"Should we tell Mom and Dad? About all this?"

He shook his head. "Some things should be secrets and stay secrets. The fewer people who know, the better."

"Yes, you're right." My parents probably would find it strange that they had a son from another universe who was as old as they were.

"I heard you were on the phone when Ivy…"

I nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, we were… interrupted."

"I never heard where she was hiding or what she was planning to do."

"I can't tell you. There's still things that not everyone knows. I can say, though, that she was happy. I talked to her a few times. She was happy before she died. Happier than I'd ever heard her. Her parents kicked her out of the house, if you didn't hear that."

Her parents weren't even _mourning_. I'd found out that Agent Coulson had managed to contact them a few days after Ivy died. Ryan, who'd answered the phone, had said that she wasn't their problem any more but thank you for letting them know they didn't have to worry about getting murdered in their sleep anymore.

I have no words to say what I think of him.

"I did hear," said Clint. His grip on his mug tightened. "I tried to stop by to see her. Her brother was at the door. He told me that Ivy had left, that he hoped they never saw her again, and that if he did see her again, he'd happily throw her out again."

The whole thing with her family was horrifying to watch. They pretended nothing had happened. That they hadn't kicked Ivy out. That she'd gone missing and stayed missing. Most people believed them.

Two weeks ago, Ryan had possessed the audacity to ask if I wanted him to accompany me at a fundraiser I'd been invited to sing at. Apparently, he'd heard I was having trouble finding someone and could use whatever he'd be paid.

I'd smiled as politely as possible and told them that I'd had other plans. I'd rather sing the entire thing without accompaniment of any sort than have him in the same room as me, let alone pay him for something.

All too soon, Clint pushed back his chair and stood up. "You need to go."

I stood up as well.

Outside of the room was a hallway, lined with other doors. Probably an apartment building of some sort.

A woman was walking down the hall at the same time we were heading out.

She never addressed us, but I recognized her face – it was Renata.

Somehow, seeing her alive made everything that had happened feel a little bit more worthwhile. Like it had been for something.

And I suppose that's the end of it.

I don't know if we'll make another one of these recordings – with Ivy gone, we probably won't be having many adventures, at least not like our past ones.

We're all healing and getting our lives together, that's enough of an adventure, isn't it?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going off to see my brother.


End file.
